The Associated Press called it a "historic water deal." California Assembly member Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) called it a miracle. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called it "the most comprehensive water infrastructure package & in the history of California."

WASHINGTON -- A new survey has found that some state health investigators miss asking questions about fruit and vegetable consumption during initial interviews with people suffering from foodborne illnesses.

State and local health departments play a key role in investigating foodborne illness outbreaks by contacting people with laboratory-confirmed illnesses, recording possible exposures to pathogens, conducting inspections of food establishments and performing DNA analyses.

Mike Aiton, who served for many years as senior vice president of sales and marketing at Sun World International LLC, has left Sun World to take a post as director of marketing for Prime Time International in Coachella, CA.

"The Prime Time family is thrilled to have Mike join our sales and marketing team," Mark Nickerson, managing partner of Prime Time, said in a Nov. 9 press release, the day Mr. Aiton started his new job.

Mr. Aiton will be responsible for new business development and new product development at Prime Time.

Liberty Fruit Co. Inc. in Kansas City, KS, is expanding its facility by 30,000 square feet, enabling it to consolidate its repacking division for better productivity and efficiency. The expansion is expected to be complete in March 2010 and will allow the produce distributor to increase its warehouse capacity by 50 percent and add to its produce storage capability and workforce.

The Pacific Northwest has reason to be proud of its tree fruit industry. The region is the nation's largest producer of apples, pears and sweet cherries. And information provided by the region's commodity boards presents an optimistic picture about prospects during the current season, in terms of both quality and volume.

WASHINGTON -- Federal food-safety regulators will hold a two-day meeting next month to hear from the food industry and other experts on ways to build a whole-chain traceability system for all foods, not just fresh produce.

The Food & Drug Administration and the Food Safety & Inspection Service are joining forces to hold the Dec. 9-10 meeting, here, because the agencies said they need to increase the speed and accuracy of traceback and traceforward operations.