SAN DIEGO -- In the aftermath of the E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak in spinach that involved San Juan Bautista, CA-based Natural Selection Foods LLC, the company announced an upgraded food-safety initiative at the recent Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit. Beginning immediately, the company will test seed in the field for several pathogens including E. coli 0157:H7 and Salmonella, said company spokesperson Samantha Cabaluna. The company will test all water sources, including tailwater. It will test deep wells at least once a month. Natural Selection will require a certification of analysis

The Pride of New York program and Wal-Mart stores throughout New York state are celebrating the bounty of the harvest season with a weeklong showcase of produce grown in New York. From Nov. 7 to 13, 39 Wal-Mart stores across the state will highlight and promote New York-grown produce items with Pride of New York in-store signage. New York state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick H. Brennan said in a statement, "New York farmers produce a wide assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables and they're all in for the final harvest of the season. We are pleased that Wal-Mart is using the Pride of New

A real produce man will soon lead the community known as the Salad Bowl of the World. By a wide margin, Dennis Donohue, president of European Vegetable Specialties Farms Inc. in Salinas, CA, has been elected mayor of that city of 150,000 people and will take office early next month. In unofficial figures, Mr. Donohue received 73 percent of the vote Tuesday, Nov. 7, while his opponent, Maria Giuriato, a Salinas councilwoman, received 27 percent. "I was really humbled and honored by such a big victory," Mr. Donohue told The Produce News the day after the election. "It really was very gratifying

Sun Belle Inc. unveiled its colorful new logo and packaging at the Produce Marketing Association annual convention held recently in San Diego. New packaging on display included completely new labels and boxes for the company's berry line of raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and red currants, as well as new PLU and UPC stickers for its greenhouse-grown peppers and tomatoes. "Sun Belle is a brand that is trusted by consumers for top quality and freshness," Sun Belle Inc.'s president and founder, Janice Honigberg, said in a statement. "Our new berry packaging lets the consumer immediately

An impressive group of retail and foodservice produce buyers have weighed in on the food-safety issue calling for specific Good Agricultural Practices to be in place for spinach by Dec. 15 and for other crops by Feb. 15, 2007. Timothy York, president of Markon Cooperative Inc., who is the spokesperson for the buyer group, spoke individually to a number of trade reporters during the recently concluded Produce Marketing Association convention, and then announced the plan in a press conference on Friday, Oct. 27. The day before, Markon and seven other companies sent a joint letter to the Produce

PHILADELPHIA -- The annual preseason Chilean fruit meeting, held here Oct. 27, brought a number of revelations to the fruit import trade. The annual meeting, which featured a workshop titled "Enhancement of Chilean Fresh Fruit Trade Operations," is presented by the Chilean & American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia. Roughly 150 people from the industry attended the meeting, which included speakers representing a variety of federal agencies, as well as ASOEX, the Chilean Exporters Association, which is based in Santiago. Scott Wood of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who is