More than 20 health officials from the United States and Canada participated in a food-safety tour of California fields and production facilities July 12-14.

The tour, organized by Watsonville, CA-based Alliance for Food & Farming, provided an opportunity for these officials to see first-hand how California cantaloupes, tomatoes and lettuce are grown.

PHILADELPHIA -- Ellis Fleisher Produce Co., a distributor on the Philadelphia Regional Produce Center, here, has extended its business through a new affiliation with Liberty Foods Inc., also based here.

Liberty Foods is a distributor of 45 food categories, serving a region ranging from Washington, DC, to New York state.

ANNAPOLIS, MD -- Companies in Canada, Mexico and the United States that are members of the Fruit & Vegetable Dispute Resolution Corp. can now turn to the DRC to resolve transportation disputes for the first time under a new resolution agreed to by top DRC officials during a July 8 meeting, here.

More than 90 percent of DRC members surveyed recently said that they supported expanding the company's negotiating power to transportation disputes, Matt McInerney, DRC chairman and executive vice president of Western Growers Association, said at the meeting.

Combine Stemilt Growers' sweet cherries with one of the more popular children's characters and the result is a dynamite promotion that's attracting cherry customers across the nation.

Stemilt's Elmo cherry display, featuring the popular Sesame Street character, is having a definite positive impact on cherry sales, according to Roger Pepperl, marketing director for Stemilt. Retailers have Elmo in produce sections nationwide, and consumers are flocking to the displays for plump Stemilt cherries.

Picture this: eVonne, one of Taiwan's pop sensations, strolling under the midday sun through a Yakima Valley cherry orchard. MTV Asia award-winning music video director Kuang Sheng Fu trains his camera on eVonne's expressive face, but also carefully frames in hanging clusters and crates full of shining Bing cherries.