As avocado prices reached near record highs leading up to one of the biggest avocado consumption days, yesterday’s Super Bowl, the United States has temporarily suspended Mexican avocado imports. The suspension was put into place Saturday night after a U.S. plant safety inspector received a threatening phone call.

Peapod Digital Labs, the digital, commercial and e-commerce arm of the Ahold Delhaize USA brands, announced that Ian Prisuta joined the company as senior vice president, private brands. Prisuta will lead the team responsible for delivering a full suite of private brands services from new product development to innovation, product packaging and design, quality, product integrity and sustainability to the local brands of Ahold Delhaize USA.

As DiMare begins its 94th year, Paul DiMare, chief executive officer and president of DiMare Fresh, announced that Tony and Scott DiMare will assume expanded leadership roles in the family business. Prior to the announcement, both Scott and Tony had served as vice presidents of DiMare Homestead & DiMare Ruskin and Tony served as an executive vice president for DiMare Fresh. Tony will continue his responsibilities with the Florida locations and expand his role in DiMare Fresh to serve as the president.

South Mill Champs, one of the largest high-quality mushroom growers in North America, announced it has expanded its Atlanta distribution center.  In addition, the company acquired substantially all of the operating assets and name of Seven Stars, Inc., a potato and onion distributor which services the U.S. Southeast.    

Valentine’s Day and Pink Lady apples have always been a perfect match, and this year there are even more reasons the two will share the love. The apple brand is celebrating the romantic holiday with a plentiful supply in stores and a social media promotion that gets fans to raise a glass.

As the Super Bowl approaches, produce experts at Meijer say avocados are already the leading MVP candidate on grocery lists this year. The retailer reports that large avocados trended in December with a surprising sale surge doubling 2021 and continue to be a top grocery trend in the early months this year, with customers adding more than 1 million avocados per week to shopping carts across the Midwest.