News

Mastronardi named Ontario’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year

Mastronardi produce President and CEO Paul Mastronardi has been named Ontario’s 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year, Food & Beverage Category Winner.

Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates the contribution and spirit of entrepreneurs everywhere. The Canadian program is in its 20th year of honoring the country’s most impressive entrepreneurs from all areas of business.

“I’m extremely honored to be selected as EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Food & Beverage Category Winner,” said Mastronardi. “This is a fantastic network of business-oriented individuals who support each other and share ideas and inspiration and I’m proud to be a part of that.”

Mastronardi's passion for flavor led him to search the world for great tasting tomatoes back in 1995. He then pioneered the concept of branding and packaging tomatoes in North America. Today, as the fourth generation President of Mastronardi Produce Ltd., he leads his team in innovative business practices to bring flavorful greenhouse produce to consumers across the world.

Last year’s winners, Steamwhistle Brewery Presidents Greg Taylor & Cam Heaps were on hand to present the award to Paul in their fun, entertaining style.

For more: www.sunsetgrown.com
 

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PMA, Sesame Street unite to promote healthy eating

During recent White House event, First Lady Michelle Obama, Sesame Workshop and Produce Marketing Association (PMA) announced that they are forming a collaboration committed to increasing children’s consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The collaboration is part of a commitment to the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which works with the private sector and PHA Honorary Chair First Lady Michelle Obama to broker commitments to help end the childhood obesity epidemic.

Under the two-year commitment, the agreement allows PMA’s community of suppliers and retailers to take advantage of the strength and influence of the Sesame Street brand and characters like Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Abby Cadabby to help deliver messages about fresh fruits and vegetables.

PMA will provide technical assistance and promotions support to its members. Sesame Street characters may be on produce in stores as early as mid-2014.

For more: www.pma.com/sesamestreet

Sesame Street photo by Richard Termine
 

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Backyard Farms on the rebound

Backyard Farms, the commercial tomato grower that was forced this past summer to rip up half a million tomato plants, has brought back nearly half its furloughed workers and expects to have tomatoes back on grocery store shelves by the beginning of 2014.

For more: bit.ly/BackyardFarmsRebound

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Procacci to receive lifetime achievement award

The United Fresh Produce Association will honor Joseph G. (Joe) Procacci with its Lifetime Achievement Award during its 2014 Winter Leadership Meetings this January at the Trump National Doral Resort in Miami, Fla.

The award will be presented on Jan. 21 at the Produce Legends Dinner, an annual event hosted by the United Fresh Foundation to recognize a career of lasting achievement in the produce industry.

The evening will support the Foundation’s programs that are investing in the next generation to increase their produce consumption.

Procacci is Chairman and CEO of Procacci Brothers Sales Corporation/Garden State Farms, Inc., and continues to work with his children in the industry he loves.

The family business that began humbly now grows and ships approximately 20 percent of all tomatoes sold in the United States, and sells wholesale produce from coast to coast.

He is a past board member of the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association and is past president of the Philadelphia Food Terminal Corporation and the Philadelphia Credit Bureau.

In 1995, he served as Chairman of the United Government Relations Committee, during which time he helped lead efforts to preserve the Perishable Agriculture Commodities Act.

For more: www.unitedfresh.org/ winter_home

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CDFA now accepting Specialty Crop Block Grant proposals

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is now accepting proposals for the 2014 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program designed to enhance the competitiveness of the Golden State’s specialty crops.

For purposes of this program, specialty crops are defined as fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture).

Grant awards will range from $50,000 to $400,000 per project. Funding is contingent upon passage of a Farm Bill and availability of funding from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service.

For more: www.cdfa.org

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ALRB reverses decision on Gerawan farm workers

In a striking and potentially significant move, the California Agriculture Labor Relations Board (ALRB) reversed the decision of one of its regional directors that would have blocked Gerawan farm workers from holding an election to determine whether they would be represented by the United Farm Workers (UFW).

For more: bit.ly/ALRBGerawan

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Bayer introduces fungicide and bactericide

Bayer Cropscience introduced Serenade Optimum fungicide and bactericide, its newest innovation for horticulture growers. Serenade Optimum gives growers a new tool to help win the battle against fungal and bacterial diseases while fighting resistance.
 

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Dates set for Retail Produce Marketing & Merchandising Conference

United Fresh announced its second annual Retail Produce Marketing & Merchandising Conference will be held in Chicago on June 12-13, 2014, immediately following the United Fresh and FMI Retail Connect shows.

The conference will be hosted by United Fresh’s Produce Marketing and Merchandising Council (PMMC), the association’s volunteer leadership group consisting of more than 30 marketing experts across the produce and retail industry.

PMMC was organized by the Board of Directors in 2012 after several years analyzing the needs of different professional groups within the association’s membership.

The 2014 Retail Produce Marketing & Merchandising Conference will kick off with a networking reception on Thursday evening, June 12, following the conclusion of the United Fresh and FMI Retail Connect shows.

The educational conference then continues all day Friday, concluding that afternoon.

Registration for the conference is included in the All-Access Package registration for United Fresh 2014. Attendees can also register for the conference a la carte.
 

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Center for Produce Safety awards $3M to projects

The Cnter for Produce Safety (CPS) at the University of California, Davis, announced sixteen new grant awards valued at $3 million. The research awards are directed at answering critical questions in specific areas of food safety practices for fruit, vegetable and tree nut production; pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest handling; and co-management of food safety and the environment. The objective is to provide the produce industry with practical, translatable research data that can be used at all levels of the supply chain.

The CPS Technical Committee reviewed 55 proposals, the highest number of proposals received since the initial RFP in 2008. Research work on these projects will begin in January 2014.

For more: https://cps.ucdavis.edu/

2013 RFP GRANT RECIPIENTS:

John Buchanan, University of Tennessee
Evaluation of multiple disinfection methods to mitigate the risk of produce contamination by irrigation water.

Kimberly Cook, Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Selection of E. coli surrogates with attachment and survival patterns similar to those of human pathogens associated with produce.

Faith Critzer, University of Tennessee
Transfer and survival of organisms to produce from surface irrigation water.

Kristen Gibson, University of Arkansas
Evaluation of pathogen survival in fresh water sediments and potential impact on irrigation water quality sampling programs.

Linda Harris, University of California, Davis
Assessing postharvest food safety risks and identifying mitigation strategies for foodborne pathogens in pistachios.

Melissa Jones, University of Florida
Effect of physiochemical and biological parameters on survival, persistence and transmission of norovirus in water and on produce.

Kalmia Kniel, University of Delaware
Use of zero valent iron (ZVI) in irrigation of tomatoes with manure-contaminated water at varying E. coli levels.

Massimiliano Marvasi, University of Florida
Feasibility of using nitric oxide donors to disperse biofilms of industrial significance to strengthen the efficacy of current industrial disinfectants.

Channah Rock, University of Arizona
Evaluation of risk-based water quality sampling strategies for the fresh produce industry.

Trevor Suslow, University of California, Davis
Remediation and recovery measures to expedite planting or replanting of vegetables following soil contamination by Salmonella enterica.

Siddhartha Thakur, North Carolina State University
Food safety risks at the fresh produce-animal interface: identifying pathogen sources and their movement on diversified farms.

George Vellidis, University of Georgia
Does Salmonella move through the irrigation systems of mixed produce farms of the Southeastern United States?

George Vellidis, University of Georgia
Does splash from overhead sprinkler irrigation systems contaminate produce with Salmonella in the Southeastern United States?

Joy Waite-Cusic, Oregon State University
Survival of generic E. coli and Salmonella during the growth, curing, and storage of dry bulb onions produced with contaminated irrigation water.

Martin Wiedmann, Cornell University
Validation of geospatial algorithms to predict the prevalence and persistence of pathogens in produce fields to improve GAPs.

Changqing Wu, University of Delaware
Enhancement of forced-air cooling to reduce Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and/or total surface microbiota on cantaloupes.