Some produce companies have referred to fresh fruits and vegetables as the best medicine there is, and it appears as if the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc., better known simply as A&P, just might agree.

The retailer, one of the older chainstores in the nation, has added a fresh produce component to its "Live Better! Wellness Club."

Using patented laser technology, Temkin International Inc., a packaging firm based in Payson, UT, can customize the respiration characteristics of flexible packaging, effectively prolonging the shelf life of fresh produce by a number of days, according to a June 18 news release from the company.

Andrea Wagner has become the new vice president of fresh, and Jim Sarcletti was named the new director of produce, at Save-A-Lot, the discount chain affiliated with Supervalu Inc. and headquartered near St. Louis in Earth City, MO.

The Blue Book reported these changes earlier this month along with the departure of Mike Kemp, who joined Save-A-Lot in 2003 and was in charge of produce procurement as vice president of product segments.

Chip Wiechec shook his head in exasperation as he sat at his desk at the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market. The owner of Hunter Bros. Inc. observed that he was paying a California Romaine shipper $6 per box, f.o.b. The trucker was charging $8.25 per box to deliver the Romaine to the Hunter Bros. dock.

"It costs me $14.25 delivered. God forbid, then, that it's out of grade. It sounds expensive at $16-$17, but the margins are nothing and the grower’s not making money," Mr. Wiechec noted, as he cited other similar examples in mid-June.

Cold, rainy weather patterns that beset the Pacific Northwest in May have finally broken, and while the region's cherry producers are in the process of assessing actual damage done to early-season varieties, growers and officials are voicing cautious optimism about the overall 2010 season.

James Michael, promotions director for the Washington State Fruit Commission and Northwest Cherry Growers, said June 22, "This has been one of the cooler Mays in the past 50 years. We lost a little of the crop to rain, but overall industry volume is good."