Produce

Leamington, ON Leamington, Ontario, the tomato capital of Canada, held its annual Greenhouse Competition this past weekend. Benefiting REACH International, a relief and education provider for underprivileged children and families in Uganda, an overwhelming number of entries were taken in for best greenhouse grown bell pepper, cucumber and tomato. Winners were announced after the onerous task of judging all of these fine products, was taken on by individuals from the supermarket industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and local media representatives. JemD Farms were pleased to have taken 1st place in the Best Hot House Bite Size tomato category with their Artisan Series Cherry on the Vine and the variety also earned them “grand daddy” of accolades, Best Overall Hot House Tomato for 2012. …

Kiwifruit have long thought to be a nutritional powerhouse.  But a new nutritional analysis published in the peer reviewed journal Nutrition Today further verifies that fact.  The author of the paper, Dr. Keith Singletary, Professor Emeritus of Nutrition at the University of Illinois, found that in addition to its antioxidant benefits, kiwi fruit can also help the digestive tract and even your skin. …

The California Avocado Commission (CAC) is integrating multiple marketing programs to encourage avocado consumption from Memorial Day to Labor Day by focusing on American summer holidays. This promotional activity, which includes television advertising in California, complements the Commission’s California avocado grower campaign and emphasizes growing category consumption during the period when California avocado volume is at its highest. …

After unanimous state-wide approval to implement the state’s first mandatory food safety program under a commodity board structure, the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board held its first Board meeting and is taking steps to immediately begin mandatory government audits.  During a meeting June 6 in San Diego, the Board voted to adopt commodity specific food safety guidance for California cantaloupes and appointed a committee to seek United States Department of Agricultural acceptance of metrics.  The group is working to begin informational audits of California cantaloupe food safety practices as soon as possible. …

Shoppers can enjoy savings while they toss their favorite summer salads with Mann Packing’s annual Summer Slaw Spectacular on-pack promotion. …