The Produce Marketing Association's Foodservice Conference & Exposition, set for July 30 to Aug. 1 in Monterey, CA, will provide foodservice professionals an outstanding menu of events and exhibitors.

Julia Stewart, PMA's public relations director, told The Produce News that this year's conference is placing a big focus on food-safety programming. The Food Safety & Traceability: Where We Are, Where We Need to Be workshop is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Saturday, July 31.

The Oppenheimer Group in Vancouver, BC, has appointed Nolan Quinn to lead its emerging berry category in the new role of berry category director.

Mr. Quinn, whose career at Oppenheimer spans a decade-and-a-half, now oversees all aspects of the company's berry business -- from global sourcing to exporting to marketing. Oppenheimer's category consists of berries grown in the United States, Canada, Chile, Argentina and Mexico, including Ocean Spray fresh cranberries and blueberries.

With large crops and late starts on all varieties for the spring grape deals in Mexico and California's Coachella Valley, there was an expectation this year that both producing areas would still be going strong when the grape harvest in the San Joaquin Valley in Central California was ready to begin.

Even though the Central California crop was also running late due to cool spring weather, growers were concerned that a significant amount of fruit from Mexico and Coachella would still remain to be marketed when the Central California harvest began.

The obesity rate among children in North America continues to spur media, organization and government attention. Data reports, newspaper and magazine articles and survey results -- now backed by first lady Michele Obama's goal of educating the public on the need for kids to get and stay in shape -- are riddled with the consequences of an overweight and unhealthy youth population.

Though Florida agriculture industry leaders claim such a move could have far-reaching unintended consequences, popular support is growing in Florida for immigration legislation similar to Arizona's new SB 1070 law.

Product traceability just got easier.

VirtualOne, a subsidiary of Plant City, FL-based Wishnatzki Inc., recently filed a provisional patent for its new FireTag technology, a laser product marker that could improve traceability and cut costs at the grower-shipper level.

FireTag does away with the need for paper and ink by marking cases of produce with a barcode or other information via laser. Unlike other laser systems, it is not stationary and can be used at the receiving dock, the cooler, the shipping exit or potentially even the packingline.