BI-LO is giving local entrepreneurs across North Carolina and South Carolina the opportunity to have their products featured on store shelves, including fresh local produce.

On April 16, representatives from the grocery chain will host a local sourcing event in Greenville, SC, where chosen entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to present their products to a selection committee.

Fresno, CA-based Trinity Fruit Sales, a grower, packer and shipper of fresh fruits since 1999, recently announced the addition of produce industry veteran Levon Ganajian as director of retail relations.

CBS Farms LLC, which is headquartered in Watsonville, CA, has increased its strawberry acreage in both California’s northern and southern districts this year. In doing so, the firm has added volume to both its conventional and organic programs.

Speaking specifically of its organic production, Director of Sales Charlie Staka said demand continues to grow.

The firm offers organic berries for the length of its season in both one- and two-pound clamshells. “More of our customers are asking for organic strawberries each season so we continue to increase our acreage,” he noted.

For many years now, the manufacturers of clamshells for strawberries and other fresh produce commodities have been tweaking the dimensions to satisfy both consumer desires and industry concerns.

The one-pounder is the clamshell used most often by the industry, but other sizes, including the two-pounder and four-pounder, are gaining favor. F-D-S Manufacturing Co. in Pomona, CA, has entered the two-pound arena this year with three different sizes, each of which allows for an eight-down pallet stacking configuration.

Fresh & Easy is reportedly closing at least 50 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada as it pursues a new business model. Remaining stores will see some changes, as Fresh & Easy is working with ADMI, the firm behind the design of the Apple Store, to design the Fresh & Easy store of the future -- a concept that the company believes represents the future of convenience retail and puts Fresh & Easy into a category of one: a fresh food convenience store.

Wegmans Food Markets Inc. is recalling approximately 12,540 packages of Wegmans Organic Food You Feel Good About Just Picked frozen spinach due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The product was sold in the frozen food department of the company’s 85 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts between Jan. 27 and March 21.

No illnesses associated with this recall have been reported to date, but Wegmans will place automated phone calls to customers who purchased the product using their Shoppers Club card.