Month: February 2016

Fresh salad producer Fresh Express will provide $500,000 to the Center for Produce Safety's (CPS) Campaign for Produce Safety, CPS and company officials announced today. This commitment from Fresh Express raises total contributions received to date to $8,702,000. …

Ippolito International has expanded its sales team with the addition of two new employees. Monica Guidotti, most recently of Duda Fresh in Salinas, will be handling sales and commodity management of bok choy, napa, beets, kale, endive and escarole. Monica has more than 25 years’ produce industry experience in outside purchasing and accounting. …

Mann Packing Co., Inc. announced plans today to continue its support of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women movement. As part of its local sponsorship, Mann’s will be participating in the annual Central Coast Go Red For Women luncheon, February 26th, at the Inn at Spanish Bay, and plans to serve heart-healthy soups from their recently published Girlfriends Guide for Moms – Soup Edition. …

The CDC issued its “final update” on the Chipotle E. coli 026 outbreak without identifying a specific product as the source. Though finding a specific product at fault would have been satisfying, our experience is that it probably would have simply led Chipotle to change suppliers. Not finding a culprit may have helped the cause of food safety, as it has led Chipotle executives to order a comprehensive review of its operation, specifically focused on food safety. To help drive this process, Chipotle retained a brilliant food safety expert. We asked Pundit Investigator & Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to find out more. …

The official start of spring is right around the corner and Stemilt is ready to help produce departments welcome warmer weather with its newly launched “Swing into Spring” promotion for apples. …