“Locally grown produce has always been the backbone of our business,” said TJ Rahll, the third-generation family member to operate Edward G. Rahll & Sons Inc., located at the Maryland Wholesale Produce Market in Jessup, MD.

“My grandfather, our company namesake, founded this business based on local produce, and despite our growth and expansion of sourcing from so many other areas throughout our history, we’re still proud to say that we work with between 50-60 local farmers each year for all of our seasonal supplies,” he added.

“The Maryland Wholesale Produce Market is operated by the Maryland Food Center Authority,” Rose M. Harrell, director of facilities for the MWPM told The Produce News. “It is directed by a 12 member executive board that is appointed by the Governor of Maryland.”

The market, located in Jessup, MD, is an approximate 400-acre site that is home to some major companies, such as SYSCO Food Services of Baltimore, T.A. Baltimore South, Merchants Terminal, BTS Distribution Centers, Terminal Corporation and the Maryland Wholesale Produce and Seafood Markets.

WASHINTON -- Questions such as whether to take separate laboratory samples when the Food & Drug Administration is probing a facility or what types of documents FDA can access during inspections were some of the topics discussed at an Oct. 1 session, here, during the United Fresh Produce Association's annual Washington Public Policy Conference.

During a crowded session, panelists responded to a range of food-safety questions.

James Michael, vice president of marketing-North America for Northwest Cherry Growers and the Washington State Fruit Commission, said the 2013 cherry season was a challenge in every sense of the word. Regional production, originally set in the 16 million to 18 million box range earlier in the season, was recently downgraded to 14.2 million boxes. And weather is the culprit.

"The weather this year is exactly what a cherry grower doesn't want to see," Michael told The Produce News Sept. 25. "This is the biggest variation from normal in the past decade."

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of its plans to sell its stores to the Yucaipa Cos., with the first-day motions seemingly approving sufficient funds to cover PACA Trust produce creditors.

Elise O'Brien, an attorney with Rynn & Janowsky, a Newport Beach, CA-based law firm specializing in PACA law, said that sufficient funds were allocated as a result of those motions to pay also PACA Trust claims as well as current produce debts.

HAC Inc., an employee-owned supermarket chain based in Oklahoma, acquired 11 stores that were formally owned by Belle Foods. This will add four banners to the HAC group: Piggly Wiggly, Belle Foods, Food World and Southern Family Market. Ten of the stores are in Georgia, and the remaining location is in Alabama.

The stores, ranging in size from 20,000 to 45,000 square feet, began transitioning to the HAC group Oct. 1 and will continue over the first two weeks of October. Associated Wholesale Grocers will supply the 11 locations out of Nashville, TN.