Fresh, vine-ripened Michigan-grown tomatoes will be on Meijer store shelves throughout the year, even in the middle of winter, thanks to Mastronardi Produce's state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouse in Coldwater, MI.

Stemilt Growers, based in Wenatchee, WA, and Lantao of Shanghai, China, have teamed up to be the first marketers of d'Anjou pears from Washington state in China under the new protocol between the United States and China, which was announced earlier this year.

Mike Taylor, vice president of sales and marketing for Stemilt, said that the d'Anjou is a good multi-purpose pear that is well suited for the Chinese market.

“Giorgio Fresh has been a member of Southeast Produce Council since it was founded,” said Bill Litvin, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Giorgio Fresh headquartered in Temple, PA.

“And we have exhibited at the Southern Exposure Retail & Foodservice Conference & Expo every year that it has been held,” he said.

The company will be there again this year — and with strong team presence — at booth number 622 on Feb. 28-March 2 at the Caribe Royale Resort & Conference Center in Orlando, FL.

Among the commodities that will be offered by Fresh Farms in Nogales, AZ, during the coming spring season are watermelons, and the company’s watermelon program is “very large for us,” said Jerry Havel, director of sales and marketing.

GM Produce Sales LLC, an importer of Mexican mangos, has added TOM ARGYROS to its sales force.

Mr. Argyros, who will work from the company’s Nogales, AZ, office, is a seasoned sales specialist with over 24 years of experience in produce at some of the larger importers such as Splendid Products, Diazteca Co. and most recently L&M Cos.

One on the provisions of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which became effective Jan. 4, is a mandate for food importers to verify the safety of food they import, though what is being called the Food Supplier Verification Program.

According to the FDA website, under the new law, “for the first time, importers have an explicit responsibility to verify that their foreign suppliers have adequate preventive controls in place to ensure that the food that they produce is safe.”