WASHINGTON -- News that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration lifted its advisory on fresh tomatoes was met with relief from California growers who are trying to earn the best price for their products in today's market, but only underscored the damage done to Florida growers.

NEWARK, DE -- The Produce Marketing Association has added a town hall- style gathering on the ongoing Salmonella saintpaul foodborne illness investigation to the agenda for its 2008 Foodservice Conference & Exposition, which will convene July 25-27 in Monterey, CA.

The town hall meeting will be held Saturday, July 26, to update conference attendees on the status of the federal government's investigation and PMA's related activities, and to respond to industry questions.

Have you gone grocery shopping lately? If so, you had to have noticed much higher retail prices on items in every department, including produce. Food price's have escalated noticeably in the past year. They increased 4 percent in 2007, and economists predict that the consumer price index for food could increase by 5.5 percent in 2008. This has led to much less consumer confidence with regard to spending.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has lifted its warning about the risk of getting Salmonella from eating tomatoes.

David Acheson, FDA's associate commissioner for foods, said in a conference call Thursday, July 17, that it is "highly unlikely" that raw tomatoes originally associated with the Salmonella outbreak are still on the market, according to published reports.

ANAHEIM, CA -- The Fresh Produce & Floral Council presented its 2008 Norman H. (Buz) Bolstad Produce Award to the Produce Marketing Association Education Foundation for the exemplary job it is doing to identify future leaders of the produce industry.

Each year until this year, the council has given the honor to an individual leader in the Southern California produce industry, but this year its presentation of an honorary award to the PMA Education Foundation was designed to shine a light on this important future leaders program.

With federal disease officials having turned their attention to Serrano and Jalape?o peppers in their ongoing Salmonella outbreak probe, some importers of hot peppers from Mexico have stopped shipping product.

According to a U.S. Food & Drug Administration update posted Monday, July 14, since April, 1,167 people infected with Salmonella Saintpaul with the same genetic fingerprint have been identified in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Canada.