John Warmerdam, chief operating officer of Warmerdam Packing LLC in Hanford, CA, and Maurice (Mo) Cameron, sales manager of Trinity Fruit Sales Co. in Fresno, CA, jointly announced Tuesday, Sept. 29 in exclusive interviews with The Produce News that Mr. Cameron would be leaving Trinity Fruit "probably effective October 1" and forming a partnership with Warmerdam to market the company's cherries, stone fruit and other fruit beginning with the 2010 season.

Your flight arrives at an airport in the vicinity of Anaheim, CA, where the annual Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit convention is taking place. You claim your travel bag, hop in a cab or shuttle bus, and head to the hotel where you will stay for the next few days. After checking in at the hotel, you unpack your bags, freshen up a bit, and make some phone calls. Then it is off to meet friends and associates to begin another popular PMA Fresh Summit.

Tropical and specialty produce veteran Peter Leifermann has joined J&C Tropicals in Miami as its sales and category management representative.

Mr. Leifermann resigned from Fresh King Inc. in July. Prior to that, he was managing partner at C-Brands Tropicals Inc. Both firms are located in Homestead, FL.

The board of directors of A. Duda & Sons Inc., a family-owned, diversified land company based in Oviedo, FL, announced the appointment of David J. Duda as president of the corporation in a Sept. 30 press release. David J. Duda, who has worked for the company for 22 years, will report to Joseph A. Duda, chief executive officer of the corporation.

Duda Farm Fresh Foods will feature Food Network star and celebrity chef Juan-Carlos Cruz in the company's booth Saturday, Oct. 3, during the PMA's Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition in Anaheim, CA.

As the host of Food Network's "Calorie Countdown" and "Weighing In," Chef Cruz reinvented recipes on the air for hungry dieters, slashing wasted calories and adding flavor to healthy foods.

On Sept. 10, Tamara L. Furda was selected as the grand-prize winner of the Sweet Times with Vidalias national recipe contest. Held by the Vidalia Onion Committee, the contest gave contestants a chance to win one of three cash prizes by submitting a favorite Vidalia onion recipe and fond memory of the sweet onion.

Recipes and stories were judged by a panel including Chef Joe Randall, owner of Chef Joe Randall's Cooking School in Savannah, GA, and Wendy Brannen, executive director of the Vidalia Onion Committee.