BENSON, NC — The 2014 North Carolina sweet potato harvest was wrapping up in early November — 86 percent complete, according to the North Carolina Agribusiness Council — and back to normal proportions and of high quality, according to the head of the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission and several growers.

Bi-Lo Holdings, parent company of Bi-Lo, Harveys and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, is enhancing customers' data security by supporting Apple Pay across its entire Southeast footprint. The new payment option will also make checkout faster and more convenient for customers.

Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc. announced that its first state-of-the-art Canadian distribution center, which opened in January, is now being complemented by the opening of a fresh-cut facility in Oshawa, ON. The facility services the Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa metropolitan areas with fresh produce.

In October RBest Produce Inc. and sister company El Sol Brands Inc. celebrated their first year anniversary operating from the newly built warehouse in Port Washington, NY. Along with this milestone, last month the company’s 70,000-square-foot facility achieved Primus Global Food Safety Certification.

Onions have factored into the lives of Champion Produce Sales’ staffers for years and in some cases generations, as John Wong, president of the operation, noted in early November when the 2014 crop was seeing good movement out of the Parma, ID, facility as well as another facility in neighboring Utah.

“Our family farms have grown delicious Spanish Sweet onions for more than 60 years,” Wong said, adding that Champion prides itself on providing “such a nutritious food for healthy lifestyles.”

Jumbo onions grown in the Treasure Valley of Idaho-Eastern Oregon are finding yet another place in the culinary spotlight, thanks to a recipe-development program launched by the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee/USA Onions.

Using the creative minds of Chicago-based Tom O’Brien of O’Brien Culinary, The Hot Plate and other recipe-development entities, USA Onions has put together a collection of new recipes that use jumbo Spanish Sweets not only center-of-plate but also as the plate, or bowl, itself in dishes such as Caramelized Onion-Roquefort Mashed Potatoes.