FiveStar Gourmet Foods is setting the trend by partnering with Beyond Meat to bring more salad protein choices to consumers. FiveStar is introducing a new Simply Fresh Taco Salad made with Beyond Meat, featuring plant-based beef crumbles from Beyond Meat, a leader in plant-based meat. The new 7.5-oz complete salad recently debuted in Publix supermarkets. Available to retailers nationwide starting in January, the salad is just one of the many new product possibilities for the culinary giant.

Avocado consumption data from Mission Produce, Inc., one of the world leaders in sourcing, producing, and distributing fresh avocados, shows that this year is set to be a banner year for the fruit, with the U.S. consuming more avocados in 2020 than ever before. The U.S. is on track to consume 6.25 billion avocados this year, up from just 3.81 billion in 2014, according to shopper data, showing that avocados have become a staple in the U.S. diet and are no longer a luxury fruit.

Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Inc., a global blueberry breeding and nursery company, has announced that Tom Blaser has joined its professional board of directors. Most recently, Blaser served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of W.R. Grace, a $2.2-billion global specialty chemical company. His appointment brings the Fall Creek board to nine individuals.

The first apple to be commercially released from the Hot Climate Programme is receiving rave reviews from growers in Italy, France and the UK, after a series of evaluations in 2020.

Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (Arizona LGMA) is pleased to welcome Kevin Watson as its new LGMA compliance officer. In this role he will help to implement the program’s comprehensive, science-based, food safety standards. Watson joins Arizona LGMA in time for its winter harvest season and brings more than 20 years of experience to the position.

Pete’s, the California-based produce company specializing in hydroponically grown living lettuce and cress varieties in addition to butter lettuce wrap kits, will debut an innovative and sustainable new line of packaged salad varieties, Greenhouse Fresh, in retail locations in and around the West Coast in early January.