After completing a retail promotion tied to the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament, Mexican producers and exporters of avocados have launched a new campaign hoping to capitalize on the interest created by soccer's World Cup.

Rousseau Farming Co. in Tolleson, AZ, one of the state's faster-growing produce companies, announced in late April that it has signed a new contract to ship its products on pallets from Chep, one of the world's leading pallet and container pooling companies.

Cool weather in the growing region delayed the start of the harvest for Mexican-grown spring cantaloupes and honeydews from SunFed in Nogales, AZ, according to Alan Voll, vice president of sales and marketing. The harvest, which was originally scheduled to start around April 20, did not get underway until about May 1, but it was going strong and still building when The Produce News talked with Mr. Voll May 11.

You won't find any sales circulars or flyers at Exo Fruits. That's because the store's general manager, Giovanni Daddio, does not believe the store needs them.

"We do not advertise and give away merchandise to get customers in," he said. "Our philosophy is only one. We believe in service and only the best quality of the product at a decent price."

Mr. Daddio bought the store, which has a 3,600-foot selling area, in the early 1980s. He sold it to its current owner, Amjad Ansari, in 1990, but remained on as its general manager.

NORTH YORK, ON -- Upon entering Galati Market Fresh's Leslie store, located here about 10 minutes north of downtown Toronto, shoppers are met with a variety of the freshest produce, both bulk and fresh cut, and in copious varieties.

Arizona growers are hoping the U.S. Food & Drug Administration finds a contamination source related to the latest Romaine lettuce recall traced from an Ohio processor back to a Yuma, AZ, field as they think about next season's crop.