Latest News From Packer Tech

Mexico’s AMHPAC cancels 2020 conference
Mexico’s AMHPAC cancels 2020 conference

The Mexican Association of Protected Horticulture — AMHPAC — has a new date for its annual convention.

Combs Wholesale Produce builds new headquarters in North Carolina
Combs Wholesale Produce builds new headquarters in North Carolina

Combs Wholesale Produce Co. is moving to a larger space to capitalize on expanding product lines and customer base.

Plenty raises $140 million in investments

Indoor grower Plenty Unlimited Inc., which markets under the Plenty brand, has $140 million more to grow its business.

DeltaTrak promotes ocean container data logger at Fresh Summit
DeltaTrak promotes ocean container data logger at Fresh Summit

DeltaTrak Inc. is promoting a data logger designed for ocean containers at the Produce Marketing Association’s virtual Fresh Summit.

Manny Wong, Fullei Fresh
Fullei Fresh’s Manny Wong recognized by SBA in Florida

Manny Wong, owner and president of Fullei Fresh, Miami, has been named the Minority-Owned Small Business Person of Year for South Florida by the Small Business Administration.

Hazel Technologies adds organic line, debuts with Desbry avocados
Hazel Technologies adds organic line, debuts with Desbry avocados

Hazel Technologies, Chicago, has a new line of the company’s shelf-life extending products approved for organic produce, Hazel O.

Terphane offers packaging options at Fresh Summit booth

Bloomfield, N.Y.-based Terphane, a polyester films manufacturing company, is showcasing three solutions for produce companies at the Produce Marketing Association’s virtual Fresh Summit.

A propagation space for indoor agriculture company Plenty.
Driscoll’s and Plenty agree to grow strawberries indoors

Driscoll’s and indoor vertical-farming company Plenty Unlimited Inc. have announced a joint development agreement to grow Driscoll’s proprietary strawberries year-round in Plenty’s vertical indoor farms. 

Gonzales Electric Authority enters agreement with Concentric Power

Energy technology firm Concentric Power Inc. and California's Gonzales Electric Authority have entered into an Energy Services Agreement.

FDA: Red onion salmonella outbreak over; investigation isn’t
FDA: Red onion salmonella outbreak over; investigation isn’t

The Food and Drug Administration has declared the Salmonella Newport outbreak that was likely caused by red onions from Thomson International Inc. is over.

Center for Produce Safety funds 14 projects at $3.3 million
Center for Produce Safety funds 14 projects at $3.3 million

The Center for Produce Safety has chosen 14 more projects to fund, from research on the survival of viruses in surface water to the role of dust in transferring foodborne pathogens.

Fruit sorter designed with food safety, traceability in mind
Fruit sorter designed with food safety, traceability in mind

Compac, a Tomra Food company, has introduced a new sorting platform designed for the future, with a focus on food safety, sanitation and traceability feature.

Valley Farm Management website images
Moxxy Marketing website design awarded

Salinas, Calif.-based Moxxy Marketing’s work on a new website for Valley Farm Management has been recognized by Graphic Design USA with a 2020 American Web Design Award.

Peruvian exporter uses Hazel for Mango to extend shelf life

Chicago-based Hazel Technologies Inc. is working with mango exporter FLP of Peru S.A.C.

Gordon Robertson joins Verdant Technologies in revenue/marketing role

Verdant Technologies, St. Paul, Minn., has hired Gordon Robertson as chief revenue and marketing officer.

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Giumarra Cos. testing pilot-free air shipments of produce
Giumarra Cos. testing pilot-free air shipments of produce

The Giumarra Cos., Los Angeles, is testing deliveries of fruit by planes without pilots and had its first successful flight recently.

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Course focuses on harmonized GAPs auditing 

The United Fresh Produce Association is offering a web seminar on auditor training for good agricultural practices.

Organic grower Superior Fresh refreshes brand, packaging

Organic aquaponic grower Superior Fresh, Northfield, Wis., has refreshed its brand and is packing in containers recycled from plastic bottles

Markon strawberries available in recyclable cardboard packaging
Markon strawberries available in recyclable cardboard packaging

Markon Cooperative, Salinas, Calif., is offering foodservice operators a new cardboard clamshell for strawberries that’s fully recyclable.

Iconic MacroBin gets design makeover
Iconic MacroBin gets design makeover

IPL Macro, Fairfield, Calif., is revamping the MacroBin 26 almost three decades after it was introduced to produce growers, with design enhancements to make it more durable.

Fresh-cut produce, such these products on display at Star Market in Boston, is subject to new traceability measures in a rule proposal by the FDA.
FDA schedules three virtual meetings on traceability rule

The Food and Drug Administration is scheduling three day-long virtual meetings on its proposed rule to increase traceability requirements on fresh produce and other foods.

HarvestHold designed to ease process of extending shelf life

Verdant Technologies, St. Paul, Minn., has patented HarvestHold, a new take on 1-MCP products that keep the produce and flowers fresher by inhibiting natural ethylene that triggers the ripening process.

Pace International introduces management software

Wapato, Wash.-based Pace International has launched a cloud-based data management software system, Pace InSite.

Marc Oshima of AeroFarms: 'How do we have a common language to find solutions?'
Marc Oshima of AeroFarms: 'How do we have a common language to find solutions?'

Video: Marc Oshima of Newark, N.J.-based AeroFarms shares his roots, trajectory and goals across the produce industry.

Web seminar explores new RPC cleaning, sanitation process

IFCO and Ecolab have created a validated regimen for cleaning and sanitizing reusable plastic containers to prevent cross contamination.

Don Limón recruits for offices across globe

Don Limón, a Germany-based grower-packer-importer, has launched a recruitment campaign to find people to work as traders for the company through its platform.

Sponsored
Del Monte Fresh starts same-day deliveries in Dallas

Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc. has on online ordering service in Dallas with same-day service, offering more than 200 stock-keeping units to residents in the area.

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AppHarvest to become publicly traded agtech company
AppHarvest to become publicly traded agtech company

Morehead, Ky.-based AppHarvest is going public.

Web seminars focus on FSMA’s traceability rule

Several web seminars focus on traceability in the wake of the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed traceability rules.

The process to make Pom Wonderful juices generated 50,000 tons of pomegranate rinds, pith and seeds each year.
The Wonderful Co. offers $1 million for pomegranate waste solution

The Wonderful Co., Los Angeles, is offering up to $1 million for a solution to the 50,000 tons of pomegranate husks generated each year for the production of Pom Wonderful juice.

Silo, supply chain information system, raises $9 million

Silo, a San Francisco, has raised $9 million in a Series A round of funding.

FDA proposes heightened traceability rules for certain produce

(UPDATED) The Food and Drug Administration has proposed new traceability rules that seek elevated record-keeping for many fresh produce items, from all fresh-cut products to leafy greens and tomatoes.

Revol Greens secures funding, hires talent, adds acreage

Greenhouse and technology company Revol Greens, Owatonna, Minn., has raised $68 million in investments to expansion in Texas and added three people to its leadership team.

Stemilt treats organic apples with Apeel to extend freshness

Stemilt Growers, Wenatchee, Wash., is using Apeel Science’s shelf-life extension technology on Artisan Organics-branded apples this season.

Hazel Technologies presents Grape Quality Summit

Hazel Technologies Inc., Chicago, is presenting the Grape Quality Summit.

Giro Pack debuts its lightest bag option yet, at 3 grams

Giro Pack Inc., Atlanta, has introduced its lightest package in its lineup of welded bags in the U.S. and Canada.

Marco Azzaretti returns to Key Technology as director of marketing
Marco Azzaretti returns to Key Technology as director of marketing

Key Technology has hired Marco Azzaretti as director of marketing.

Karl Hertel joins Sev-Rend as chief financial officer

Sev-Rend, Collinsville, Ill., has hired Karl Hertel as chief financial officer.

FDA proposes heightened traceability rules for certain produce

The Food and Drug Administration has proposed new traceability rules that seek elevated record-keeping for many fresh produce items, from all fresh-cut products to leafy greens and tomatoes.

English cucumbers grown by Houweling's Group and treated with Apeel Sciences' shelf-life technology are available at Walmart stores.
Plastic-free English cucumbers from Houweling’s now at Walmart

English cucumbers that have been treated by Apeel Science’s shelf life technology to replace plastic wrap, are now available at Walmart stores.

Little Leaf Farms ships from expanded acreage

Little Leaf Farms, Devens, Mass., has doubled its greenhouse capacity to 10 acres, shipping product from the addition this summer.

Unfold adds Micki Seibel as VP of product

Micki Seibel has joined Unfold as vice president of product.

Food protection association’s annual meeting goes digital
Food protection association’s annual meeting goes digital

The International Association for Food Protection’s annual meeting will be a virtual event this year.

California LGMA survey looks at members’ traceability plans
California LGMA survey looks at members’ traceability plans

Members of the California LGMA, who grow an overwhelming majority of the lettuce and other leafy greens in the state, and 80% of the U.S. lettuce, say they’re capable of quickly tracking recalled products.

Giro Pack offers several programs of recyclable, compostable and reduced-plastic packaging.
Giro Pack focuses on sustainable packaging and use of plastic

Giro Pack Inc. is rethinking plastic in terms reducing it, and optimizing its use in each package it manufactures to reduce overall environmental effects.

SIMBA Lite brings lower-cost PTI compliance 
SIMBA Lite brings lower-cost PTI compliance 

Dynamic Systems Inc., Bellevue, Wash., has launched a lower-cost version of its SIMBA traceability system designed for smaller produce growers and packers.

Leafy greens growers prepare for Yuma, beef up safety measures
Leafy greens growers prepare for Yuma, beef up safety measures

As leafy greens growers prepare to move from California’s Central Coast regaion to the desert regions of California and Yuma, Ariz., to start fall/winter production, they’re taking extra precautions.

Plant Based Products Council joins group to tackle plastic packaging

The Plant Based Products Council, whose members include companies that promote sustainable packaging, has joined the U.S. Plastics Pact, which seeks a circular economy for plastics by 2025.

Sun City Cherries upgrades with Elifab grader
Sun City Cherries upgrades with Elifab grader

Sun City Cherries, Kelowna, British Columbia, recently added a cherry line and updated its packing facility.

Varcode appoints food safety specialists on advisory board

Chicago-based Varcode, which makes digital, time- and temperature-sensitive supply chain solutions, has appointed an advisory board of food safety specialists.