CORAL GABLES, FL -- Del Monte Fresh Produce Co. N.A. Inc. , a subsidiary of Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., a leading vertically integrated producer, marketer and distributor of high-quality fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, launched Sept. 23 its new vending line of healthy snack alternatives at the National Automated Merchants Convention in Chicago.

The line, which features specially packaged bananas and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, offers vending operators a solution to meet society's growing demand for healthy snacks in vending machines.

About six years ago, Ralph Laderoot III, a salesman and buyer for Ben B. Schwartz & Sons Inc. in Detroit, returned to where he had grown up after living in Arizona for several years.

"As I was graduating from high school, my dad was moving to Arizona," said Mr. Laderoot. "I was looking for a change of scenery after spending my life in Michigan, so I moved with him. I tried my hand at several careers for a few years. I was an electrician, and for a while my brother and I had a landscaping company."

The state of Colorado has earned some bragging rights when one discusses current global markets for fresh potatoes and those markets in which potato exports continue to grow.

Tim Larsen, senior international marketing specialist with the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said that the Centennial State enjoys national ranking with a variety of its produce. Fall potatoes rank fifth, and summer potatoes rank seventh, he said.

Food safety is such a top-of-mind issue for San Antonio, TX-based Murphy Tomatoes that it provided the impetus for the construction of a brand new 32,400-square-foot facility off the decades-old market.

Chief Operating Officer Bill Kellner said that the new facility gives the tomato repacker and distributor plenty of space to work the fruit, place it in storage and ripen it when necessary. "We have two ripening rooms where I can set the temperature for 34 degrees to whatever we need," he said.

A new portable pressure cooling system designed to expand forced-air cooling capabilities has moved past the development stage and is now available for tunnel cooling fruits and vegetables.

Developed by Salinas, CA-based Veg-Tech LLC, the portable cooling system -- called Cool. Anywhere. -- features a patented air-handling technology that provides exceptional cooling uniformity across all pallets.

NEWARK, DE -- Produce Marketing Association staff are hosting local tours of food safety regulators on each U.S. coast just two weeks before the global produce industry will focus on food safety at PMA's 2009 Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition.

Senior Food & Drug Administration officials, including Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, visited small farms in PMA's home state of Delaware Sept. 18 as part of a fact-finding tour to learn more about produce safety, such as traceability. That tour, planned by PMA, included a town hall meeting with area growers.