SALINAS, CA -- With claims of a smoking gun still ringing in the ears of spinach growers and shippers in and around the Salinas Valley, a closed meeting Wednesday, Sept. 21 with some 200 Salinas-area growers and agriculture leaders failed to lift the dark cloud that hangs over the industry. Later at a news conference at the National Steinbeck Center, Bryan Silbermann, president of Produce Marketing Association, and Tom Nassif, president and chief executive officer of Western Growers Association, spoke of the industry's need to come up with a specific plan to prevent future E. coli outbreaks

The government's investigation leaped ahead Sept. 20 as the Food and Drug Administration announced a matching E. coli O157 sample in a victims Dole spinach bag and as the paper trail narrowed the probe into fields in three California counties. The New Mexico Department of Health said that it found the matching E. coli sample to the outbreak strain in an opened package of conventionally grown "Dole" brand baby spinach, which was packed by Natural Selection Foods. Many other bag sample results have yet to be reported, said FDA. This news confirms our decision to go out early with our voluntary

NAPLES, FL -- Thanks in large part to a national television ad campaign, Florida field-grown tomatoes have enjoyed an increase in market share over rival hothouse-grown beefsteak and on-the-vine varieties, Samantha Winters, director of education and marketing for the Florida Tomato Committee, said at the group's organizational meeting during the 31st annual Joint Florida Tomato Conference held here Sept. 5-10 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Citing data from the Perishables Group's FreshFacts, Ms. Winters told those assembled at the meeting Sept. 7 that movement percentages for hothouse beefsteak

OAKLAND, CA -- The Fresh Produce & Floral Council held its semi-annual Northern California luncheon meeting Tuesday, Sept. 12, here, which attracted a crowd from throughout the state. Featured speaker Tom Rathman, a former NFL running back who achieved most of his success while playing with the San Francisco 49ers, used his experiences in football to discuss the important elements that can make any organization strong. He cited teamwork, vision, the expectation of success and a stated plan as the primary ingredients that led the 49ers to two Super Bowl championships during his eight years with

Jim Margiotta, president of J. Margiotta Co. in New York, is a produce man and, in his spare time, a surfer. He didn't plan to be a fund-raiser, but he has found himself in that role as he seeks help from the produce industry in his quest to help autistic children. Through his passion for surfing, Mr. Margiotta became friends with professional surfing duo, Israel and Danielle Paskowitz of Hawaii, whose son Isaiah was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. Like many autistic children, he suffered from sensory overload, and the ocean was one place where he seemed to find respite. The couple

When Visalia, CA-based Golden State Citrus Packers -- a Sunkist affiliate with the Visalia Citrus Packing Group -- begins the new fall season, it will throw the switch on the latest in packing technology in its expanded and improved quarters that will better serve its growers and customers, especially in the area of specialty citrus. "Basically, we'll be able to handle everything from small, fragile mandarins to the largest pummelos and everything in between," Visalia Citrus Packing Group President and Sunkist board member Randy Veeh said in a statement. "We added a new specialty line and made