The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) was enacted at the request of the fruit and vegetable industry to promote fair trade in the industry.  PACA protects businesses dealing in fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables by establishing and enforcing a code of fair business practices and helping companies resolve business disputes.  Patrick Romero, the webinar speaker, will detail how PACA helps companies resolve business disputes and protects the fruit and vegetable industry and ultimately, your business.  This webinar will be conducted in Spanish. Romero is the Regional Director in the Western Regional PACA office in Tucson, Arizona. He has been

BLAND, DOWDY HONORED AT VIDALIA ONION INDUSTRY BANQUET Tattnall County farmer Delbert Bland was named Grower of the Year and the late Delwin Dowdy was inducted into the Vidalia Onion Hall of Fame at the 2011 Vidalia Onion industry banquet, held in February. Bland, of Bland Farms LLC in Glennville, began growing onions with his father Raymond D. Bland in 1982 on five acres. They co-founded Bland Farms, which has grown to over 1,700 acres. With 92 employees, Bland Farms is the largest grower, packer, and shipper of Vidalia onions and has the largest controlled-environment storage capacity in the sweet

Crops & Markets By Doug Ohlemeier Published on 03/03/2011 11:16AM Trying to better familiarize buyers with their berries, Georgia’s blueberry industry is introducing a new logo. The Georgia Blueberry Commission released the logo for use by packers. Commission chairman Joe Cornelius, president of J&B Blueberry Farms Inc., Manor, Ga., said he recently talked with a Chicago distributor-handler who was surprised to learn blueberries come from Georgia, as the buyer purchases his berries from Naturipe Farms LLC co-owner MBG Marketing, Grand Junction, Mich., which markets Cornelius’ berries. With Georgia becoming the No. 3 blueberry growing state, Cornelius said the industry hopes

A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided detailed evidence linking a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul in 2008 to jalapeño and serrano peppers, and explained how tomatoes were mistakenly implicated in the early stages of the investigation. The blame focused on tomatoes because of incomplete information gathered from consumers. United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel said, "The study in the Medicine has eaten weeks earlier can be useful, but not definitive, in these investigations. It's clear from the study that many sick individuals recalled

Training for a Recall, Communicating Under Fire Webinar Education Series The United Fresh Foundation presents a new online version of its Training for a Recall, Communicating Under Fire course. With overwhelming popularity and sold-out courses in the past, United offers this new online series to companies in need of the fundamentals of a product recall. This webinar course includes all the core elements of the renowned three-day in-person course, but the with convenience of attending right at your own desk. The series features one-hour webinars hosted weekly for six consecutive weeks starting on Friday, March 11, 2011. • Identify what