EVERETT, MA — The produce industry came to New England in late August to see the latest products and services at the New England Produce Council's Produce, Floral & Food Service Expo 2023, its premier event.

This year's annual event was held Monday, Aug. 21, and Tuesday, Aug. 22 at the Encore Boston Harbor, here, a new venue for the council. The council also surprised attendees by unveiling its brand new logo.

Bob Haarhues has joined Dovex Fruit Co. as national sales director.

Haarhues joins Dovex with several years of senior sales experience, including vice president of sales at Dovex’s partner company, Crunch Pak.  He held prior positions with SuperValu, in corporate produce for store formats, Amcor Flexibles Europe, Americas Fresh Produce and Stemilt Growers.

As an industry, we want consumers to eat more produce — at every meal and snack, each and every day. Unlike other food industry players, there is strong public health support behind motivating individuals and families to eat more of our products. Only about 20 percent of consumers eat recommended amounts of fruits and 25 percent don’t eat any.

The tang of raspberry and lemon sauce neatly contrasts fish in a recipe that’s a beautiful to look at as it is to eat. When it comes to the fish, you can choose any meaty and mildly flavored fish such as cod, halibut or even salmon to complement the fruity sauce.

At Maglio Produce, the more produce that ends up in consumers’ mouths, the less that ends up in landfills—a win for everyone along the food chain.

“To us, sustainability is the elimination of food waste,” said Richard Butera, the Milwaukee-based company’s director of business development. “There’s nothing worse than investing in growing a commodity only to dispose of it somewhere along the chain. That is the most unsustainable part of agriculture today.”

Hy-Vee Inc.'s Greg Kimmel, a 38-year veteran of the company and the produce manager at the Utica Ridge Hy-Vee in Davenport, IA, has won the Retail Produce Manager Award from the International Fresh Produce Association.

Kimmel is one of 15 produce experts being nationally recognized by IFPA for the creative merchandising techniques that he brings to the produce aisles. Kimmel began his career with Hy-Vee in 1985 and has worked in produce for nearly his entire career. For 23 years, he’s led top-performing produce departments across the company.