Produce

With all the benefits of technology, there is something about sitting down face to face that can make it easier to think through industry problems and move toward improving the situation. So at the upcoming edition of The New York Produce Show and Conference, we are going to steal a page from our IDEATION FRESH Foodservice Forum and do some ideation about this cantaloupe situation and its broader meaning for food safety and the industry. …

In an experiment on rats, European researchers have proved that eating strawberries reduces the harm that alcohol can cause to the stomach mucous membrane. Published in the open access journal Plos One, the study may contribute to improving the treatment of stomach ulcers. …

Export of Chile’s “Little Blue Dynamos*” to U.S. and Canadian markets this year is supported by an aggressive multi-tiered promotion campaign aimed at getting the berries into more stores, restaurants and consumer kitchens during the North American winter. With a growing season opposite that of the U.S., Chilean blueberries don’t compete with their northern counterparts, but help build a stronger year-round market for both American and Chilean blueberry farmers. …

Announcing a new dawn in organic distribution, Renaissance Organics, Inc. is a new distributor of organic produce and foods and has named DeeDee Digby as company president. A Georgia native and a well-known industry veteran, Digby has been involved in the produce, food and foodservice industries for more than 19 years, most previously as president of Destiny Organics, LLC. …

You can’t really think about international trade without thinking about transport, and there was only one man we thought could combine an understanding of what is happening with transportation and logistics with an understanding of what might this might mean for the world of produce. That man is Richard Bright, Managing Director of Reefer Trends, and we have mentioned him before in the Pundit. He’s coming over from the United Kingdom, and we asked Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to find out what he would focus on in his presentation. …