Month: March 2011

Fresh mushrooms, one of the top 20 best-selling produce items in 2010, outperformed produce retail sales as a whole in terms of both dollars and pounds sold, according to data from FreshLook Marketing for the period ending January 2, 2011. Over the past year, the produce category as a whole experienced a 3.3 percent increase in dollar sales and a 1.6 percent increase in volume sold, whereas mushrooms grew at a larger pace, registering a 3.6 percent increase in dollar sales and a 3.0 percent increase in volume sold. …

Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. (Del Monte Fresh) of Coral Gables, Florida is voluntarily recalling 4,992 cartons of cantaloupes, each containing 4 plastic mesh sleeves with 3 cantaloupes per sleeve, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella Panama, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. …

A historic trio of severe winter freezes in Florida, northern Mexico and Southern California have cut eggplant supplies across the country. What survived is often selling for triple the usual price. …