“In the coming months, we plan to renovate our existing packaging room,” said Michael Layous, sales and marketing representative for The Garlic Co. headquartered in Bakersfield, CA. “We hope the upgrade will offer not only a more spacious working environment, but also enable us to handle a greater volume of output.”

Richard Cochran, president of Robt. T. Cochran & Co., told The Produce News that the company hired Guy Russo about three months ago.

“Guy is working in sales for us,” said Mr. Cochran. “He is an old-time fruit salesman who is a market veteran. He’s been in the business for several decades.”

The company occupies four and a half units at Hunts Point Terminal Market. It is now celebrating 120 years in business, and it has been on the terminal market since it opened in 1967.

Mr. Cochran’s great-grandfather, Robert, founded the company.

Based on current projections, the National Mango Board is estimating a fairly similar flow of mangos from Mexico in the May through August timeframe. The projected volume for those four months is approximately 42.1 million boxes, which compares favorably to the 41.4 million boxes that were imported in 2012 from our closest southern neighbor.

SAN DIEGO — Several industry experts said that because of budgetary constraints, there is no reason to expect anything but increased delays at ports of entry when trying to import fresh produce into the United States.

A tremendous increase in imports over the last decade has not led to a corresponding increase in inspectors, facilities or even efficiencies to handle the increase. In addition, new federal regulations, including the yet-to-be-released import rules associated with the Food Safety Modernization Act, have led to what seems sure to be an unfunded mandate.

Freshway Foods, a fresh fruit and vegetable processor, repacker, distributor and logistics provider based in Sidney, OH, introduced several new super food salads at United Fresh 2013 in San Diego.

Featured at the show were new salads containing Brussels sprouts, kale, mango and healthy grains, such as rainbow quinoa.

VINELAND, NJ — The Vineland Produce Auction opened “a little later this year than last year because of the weather,” according to the auction’s Carol DeFoor. The long-running auction opened the 2013 season on April 26, about two weeks later than last year’s extremely early start but pretty much in line with historical norms, she noted.

“Volume is picking up. We started squash today,” she told The Produce News May 14. “We have the greens, asparagus, all the lettuces.” She was expecting “substantial” volume on many items by around June 3.