Foxy brand produce has launched a Facebook recipe contest with the winner receiving a trip for two to view a live taping of the public television show, “Cook’s Country.“

The contest, part of a yearlong partnership between Foxy and America’s Test Kitchen, encourages consumers to use any Foxy produce item in a tasty recipe, and submit it along with a photo onto the contest platform.

All recipe submissions will be judged on taste, flavor, visual appeal, use of Foxy produce items, as well as clarity of instruction.

Giumarra has added Kellee Harris to its marketing team. Harris joins the company as western region business manager.

She comes to Giumarra from Package Containers Inc., where her responsibilities included business development and account management for the California, Utah and Colorado regions. She has also held positions in the nonprofit and sporting goods sectors, with an emphasis on marketing and sales.

Social media continues to evolve at a rapid pace, and the California Avocado Commission is taking full advantage of these new opportunities to reach consumers with targeted messages. CAC has expanded its social media efforts to fully support retailers with a variety of customer-specific programs and communications.

While per capita consumption of fresh citrus has declined since 1980, total U.S. consumption of citrus fruits has increased 20 percent since that time, according to a report titled “U.S. Citrus Import Demand: Seasonality and Substitution,” compiled by Katherine L. Baldwin, formerly of the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, was presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting in Birmingham, AL, in February 2012.

“We have completed our new expansion at our Warwick, Maryland, facility in the past two months,” Kevin Donovan, national sales manager for Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, PA, told The Produce News June 3. “It now produces half a million pounds of white mushrooms per week.”

Donovan noted that while brown mushrooms, such as Portabellas and Baby Bellas, are definitely growing in popularity and consequent demand, the white category still leads the overall sales in mushrooms.

Fruit Royale Inc. in Delano, CA, has been packing some of its grapes in gusseted stand-up bags, also commonly referred to as pouch bags, for about the last four years for some of its grapes in California.

The company has seen steady growth in demand for the new packaging, with some customers now asking for it exclusively, according to Louie Galvan, a partner in the company.