A uniform communication system to help retailers pull recalled product off the shelf in quick fashion has been developed and is being utilized by a majority of the national retailers and many of the top center-of-the-store food manufacturers. As of yet, however, only a handful of produce suppliers have signed up.

WASHINGTON -- The produce industry will need to look out for a new guidance the U.S. Food & Drug Administration is planning to release soon that may change the rules for filing on-line reports under the four-month- old Reportable Food Registry.

A prolonged period of freezing weather in late December and early January damaged about 30 percent of the flower crops in the area around Bogotá, Colombia, according to Augusto Solano, president of Asocolflores, the Colombian flower growers association.

With her first-place win Jan. 23 at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, WA, 17-year-old Colorado skater Rachael Flatt secured her spot in the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.

And she takes with her the sponsorship of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee in a one-year contract, inked just days before Ms. Flatt's powerful performance in Spokane.

According to Linda Weyers, administrator for Monte Vista, CO-based committee, the relationship with the young athlete was initiated by Ms. Flatt's representatives.

The Idaho Potato Commission is seeing record interest in its Potato Lover's Month retail display contest.

"We are finding there is more interest in the [Potato Lover's Month retail display] contest than I have ever seen before, said Seth Pemsler, vice president of retail for the Idaho Potato Commission in Eagle, ID.

In a Jan. 19 interview with The Produce News, Mr. Pemsler said that he attributes the unusually high interest in this year's Potato Lover's Month contest "to the importance of potatoes today in our recessionary environment."

South African growers of summer citrus bound for the United States have signaled their intention to aggressively market their products in the Midwest and the West Coast for the first time and are expecting to raise the value of their exports to the United States to $500 million in 2010.