A court hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 15 in connection with charges filed against two top officials at Mucci Farms, headquartered in Kingsville, ON. General Manager Danny Mucci and Vice President of Sales and Marketing Joe Spano face charges of defrauding the public and three major grocery store chains by misrepresenting the country of origin of greenhouse vegetables the company markets.

Mucci Farms is also being charged as a business in the case. The retail outlets involved are Costco Wholesale, Sobeys Inc. and Loblaw Cos.

Ready Pac Foods, Inc. recently launched its latest contest promotion, Elite Eats. This indulgent-inspired promo gives contestants the chance to win an ELITE spa vacation for two at the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa in Phoenix — valued at $3,000, courtesy of Ready Pac.

Contestants enter by voting for their favorite new Ready Pac Bistro Bowl Wrap Kit on Ready Pac’s website before Aug.10 or by following a link from any one of Ready Pac’s other digital sites on Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

Santa Cruz, CA-based Awe Sum Organics recently announced the hire of Dan LeClair as logistics manager.

In this newly created position, LeClair will focus on bringing more structure and enhancement to the supply chain process and network.

I Love Produce, a pioneer in importation of organic ginger from Peru, took part in a new harvest celebration and ceremony to commemorate its donation of $13,440 to the local village school called the "Antonio Raymondi" secondary school. The school donation program was initiated by I Love Produce to give back to the local native Asháninka Community of Churingaveni where the ginger is from. The Asháninkas are the second-largest indigenous group living in the rainforests of Peru with a culture that dates back to the time of the Incas.

“Overall, we are up a little in tonnage this year” in table grapes, said Atomic Torosian, a partner in Crown Jewels Produce LLC in Fresno, CA, in an interview with The Produce News.

“We have contracted with a few more growers, so Crown Jewels’ production is up by at least 20 percent from last year,” he said. Those increases are “mostly towards the mid- to late season, not so much on the front end.”

Simonian Fruit Co. in Fowler, CA, which grows, packs and ships an assortment of California tree fruit and grapes, will start off the grape season with some specialty grapes, according to Jeff Simonian, vice president of sales.

“We will have the red Champagne grapes” beginning the week following the Fourth of July, Simonian told The Produce News. Those will be followed a week later with some green Champagne grapes. “That is the front part of our grape deal.”