Produce

The California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA) submitted its official comments on the Food Safety Modernization Act’s proposed Produce Safety Rule.  The comments focus on a number of suggestions to strengthen the proposed rule, but the most important comment offered by the LGMA presents the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with a solution that would quickly allow it to regulate 90 percent of the leafy greens produced in the United States at no cost to the public. …

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced today that the majority of produce it tested in 2012 had no detectable pesticide residues and posed no health risk to the public. …

Locally grown apples, onions and homemade bread produced in the Gate City are some of the fresh items Provident Produce owner John Fisher is keeping tabs on currently. …

At its 88th Annual Meeting Monday, the Western Growers Board of Directors installed Bruce C. Taylor, chairman and CEO of Taylor Farms California as the new chairman of the organization.  Taylor will take over volunteer leadership responsibilities from outgoing Chairman Steve Barnard, president and CEO of Mission Produce, Inc. Taylor will assume his duties as chairman at the close of this week’s annual meeting. …

Baloian Farms has recently introduced a high graphic merchandising bin for hard (winter) squash. The goal of this new bin design is to provide a single merchandising source that will display various varieties of hard squash in one, easy to access location on the retail floor, as well as make retail ordering and store merchandising easier. …