PERU - Produce Inspectors of America (PIA) is continuing its international growth with the addition of a new operation in Peru.  The company’s goal is to offer new alternatives while providing the same quality services that  PIA already offers in the U.S., Europe, ASIA and Chile.  

“We would like to provide Peruvians growers, exporters and direct importers a source for quality information in making the most informed decisions before they ship the fruit to abroad.  Our first steps in Peru is going to be working with Asparagus, one of the most emblematic products from Peru and also with blueberries; an industry that is starting in Peru with a huge potential.  Later, we want to focus in Avocados, Grapes, Pomegranate and mangoes,” Juan Pablo Caballero, General Manager PIA-USA, tells me.

Matias Bustamante will be managing the new operation.  His team will arrive in Peru at the end of August (2014) will plans to be up and running at the beginning of September. He is an agricultural engineer Graduated from Universidad De Chile.  He also has a Master in Pest and Disease.

Matias has been working for PIA for more than 4 years.  He spent his first 2 years working in the U.S. in Miami and Philadelphia.  Since 2012 he has been in charge of our operations in ASIA, specifically China, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.”

“We are excited to be expanding our business into Peru and are very confident that our experience and processes will help improve arrivals while avoiding quality issues and rejections,” Juan Pablo notes.

Congrats, PIA, on your international expansion and continued growth.

Produce Inspectors of America

RICHLAND, WA - Railex has announced that it will be hosting this year's Potato Season Kick-Off Meetings & Luncheons in beautiful Washington State.

There will be two meetings altogether along with the luncheon and Railex says that it will be a great event for potato shippers to kick-off this year's harvest season.

The event will start with a meet-and-greet at Anthony's Restaurant, in Richland, WA starting at noon on August 26th. The second meeting will also start at noon the following day and will be held at Max Dale's Steak & Chop House in Mount Vernon, WA.

According to the press release, interested participants should send RSVP's to Railex by August 20th.

Railex

CAMBRIDGE, MA - Harvard scientists have engineered a pack of robots, or kilobots, capable of self-assembling into some amazing shapes. Could teams of these mini-robots one day be capable of assembling into produce displays in stores? Maybe. One way or another I have to say that this is something you have to check out.

Watch the video below to learn more about how these amazing inventions work:

How do they do this? First, individual seed bots gather together and send out little beans of IR light. Other robots are programed to be attracted to this light and move towards it, clustering around the seed bot. Once enough robots have gathered together, they communicate among one another in order to coordinate their positioning, forming the desired shape, whether it be a triangle today or a mango display tomorrow.

These kilobots can be charged either by IR or through an internet power network that activates when the robots chain up, according to Tech Crunch.

These robots are even able to detect when they are broken or off-course, allowing the team to self regulate.

Forget Legos, I wish my parents had gotten me some of these guys when I was a kid!

Have you ever wanted to know the best way to eat a kiwi or peel an orange? If you have, this video has you covered. Check out the best ways to eat these 6 popular fruits below:

Kiwi: Cut off the ends and spoon out the insides to get the most out of this sweet treat.

Pomegranate: Cut it in half, stretch out the insides, and then hit it with a wooden spoon over the serving bowl. Easy as that!

Mango: Cut the sides and then peel the fruit by dragging it down the sides of a simple water glass.

Oranges: Make a thin cut across the perimeter of the orange and then peel it off in two sections for a no mess solution.

Strawberries: My personal favorite tip, put a straw through the center of the strawberry to get the stem off without wasting any of the edible fruit.

Watermelon: Slice the watermelon in half and cut into the sides 3 times on each side. Then cut around the top and cross hatch the fruit before shaking out the watermelon into a serving bowl.

Now I don't know about you, but I'm off to go buy some straws. 

OXNARD, CA - Prime Time International is on the move, having recently transitioned its pepper production to the Central Coast of California. Product will be with shipping from Oxnard for the next three months.

Mike Aiton, Director of Marketing, tells us, “This growing area generally produces our best quality of the year and as production spikes, FOB pricing declines making market conditions very favorable.”

It is expected that the cooler weather will make production more predictable and consistent when compared to the first few months of the California season, Aiton notes. Supplies of red, yellow, green, and mini sweet peppers will be in peak supply for the next six weeks and promotional opportunities are abundant.

Mini Sweet peppers continue to be a growing category at Prime Time and acreage and production have increased dramatically this year to meet the rising demand.

To accommodate the increased production, Prime Time has equipped its packing house in the city of Oxnard, with two high speed, state of the art, packing machines to handle the volume. Consistency of quality, weight and appearance will all be maximized with these new additions.

The company can also pack any combination of counts and colors thata retailer might want. Prime Time’s fully automated flow through system enables the company to quickly change to accommodate the many requirements of its customers.

As the California drought continues, Mike notes, “We are near the tipping point. Managing water and getting by with as little as possible has been a real challenge this season. Unless there are dramatic increases in available water, 2015 will be a very difficult one in the Ventura County growing areas.”

Currently, the set on the plants is heavy and volume will increase accordingly. Harvest is running about seven days earlier than a year ago which seems to bea recurring theme throughout California this year, he notes. Quality and sizing both appear to be outstanding at this time.

Prime Time will be in Oxnard until approximately the first of November before transitioning to Baja, California and Coachella until the first of next year.

Prime Time

GAINESVILLE, FL - Coca-Cola is donating $1.5 million to the University of Florida Foundation to show its support for the fight against citrus greening disease. The funds will go toward sustainable research programs managed by the Citrus Research and Development Foundation Inc. (CRDF) to eliminate the threat of citrus greening, according to a press release.

“This grant from Coca-Cola allows Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers to move farther, faster, as they work to find a cure for citrus greening,” said Jack Payne, UF Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources. “It takes everyone in the industry working together to fight this.”

Over the next three years, Coca-Cola will distribute the donation in $500,000 increments.

Tom Jerkins, CRDF President, says the donation will “amplify the speed and benefit of research and products available to the industry to eliminate this devastating disease.”

This is Coca-Cola’s second $1.5 million contribution to the university’s CRDF in three years. “Research to find a sustainable and environmentally conscious way to fight this disease is the best way we can support the entire value chain for the citrus industry,” said Iain McLaughlin, Senior Vice President of Global Stills and Juice Center, for Coca-Cola.

This donation will surely go a long way in supporting research that will benefit Florida’s $9 billion citrus industry.

University of Florida

Coca-Cola

Atlanta, GA - Sprouts' Southeastern expansion plans have been widely covered, but now new reports coming from the Tampa Bay Business Journal suggest that despite having been scouting real estate locations throughout Florida, Sprouts may be slowing down these plans for the immediate future while it assess the success of its recently built Atlanta locations.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive consumer feedback to the two stores that are open in Georgia,” Sprouts spokeswoman Donna Egan said. “So we would certainly love for them to be a bellwether, but we don’t have anything to share at this time.”

Sprouts has already opened 6 stores in the last fiscal quarter and with 5 more having been opened this quarter, it makes sense that the retailer would want to take a moment to stop and take the temperature of its various new locations before continuing down the expansion path.

Growth is on Sprouts' side in this endeavor. Considering that it enjoyed a incredible 141% increase in net profit and a 20% gain in sales over the course of the latest fiscal quarter, there is no need for Sprouts to barrel along in its expansion efforts until it is confident that the foundation for success has been set.

As for how long this process is expected to take, Egan would only reveal was that Sprouts did not “have a definitive timetable for expansion in the Southeast at this time” according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

As long as customers continue to clamor for a Sprouts near them however, I am confident that Sprouts will not maintain this slowdown for too long.

When Sprouts does decide on its expansion plans, you can count on AndNowUKnow to bring you the news first. Stay tuned!

Sprouts Farmers Market

MONTVALE, NJ - A federal judge has approved the $9 million settlement of a class action lawsuit filed against current and former senior executives at The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P).

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2011 by company shareholders, alleged that A&P executives made a number of “false and misleading statements” that deceived investors about the condition of A&P’s business, artificially inflated the company’s stock price, and enabled the company to sell more than $430 million in debt on more favorable terms, according to Law360.

Among those named in the lawsuit include Christian W.E. Haub, Eric Claus, Ron Marshall, Samuel Martin, and Brenda Galgano, Law360 reports. A&P was not named as a defendant.

A&P filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2010 as a result of its heavy debt and the increasingly competitive market. The company has since emerged from bankruptcy in 2012.

Peter S. Pearlman, Plaintiffs attorney from Cohn Lifland Pearlman Herrman & Knopf LLP, said in a statement, “Lead Plaintiffs and their counsel have concluded, after a thorough investigation of the factual and legal issues in the litigation, in particular the factual and legal defenses raised by Defendants regarding loss causation and damages, as well as the expense and risk of continued litigation, that under the circumstances the proposed settlement is an excellent result and is in the best interests of the Class.”

U.S. District Judge William Martini has scheduled a final hearing discussing whether to grant final approval of the settlement for December.

A&P

CHARLOTTE, NC – Chiquita Brands International announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously determined that the unsolicited offer from the Cutrale Group and the Safra Group is inadequate and not in the best interests of Chiquita shareholders.

With the decision to reject the offer, Chiquita has determined not to furnish information to, and have discussions and negotiations with, the Cutrale Group and the Safra Group at this time, according to a press release.

To learn more about this offer, check out our previous article by clicking here.

A letter from Chiquita to the Cutrale Group and the Safra Group states, “After careful consultation with our legal and financial advisors, our Board of Directors has unanimously concluded that the Cutrale Group and the Safra Group's offer of $13.00 per share is inadequate and not in the best interests of Chiquita shareholders. Having made such a determination, Chiquita has determined not to furnish information to, and have discussions and negotiations with, the Cutrale Group and the Safra Group at this time. The Board continues to strongly believe in the strategic merits and value provided by the proposed transaction with Fyffes.”

The Chiquita Board of Directors has also unanimously reaffirmed its recommendation that Chiquita shareholders vote to approve the definitive merger agreement between Chiquita and Fyffes, according to a press release.

For more information on the Chiquita and Fyffes merger, check out our previous article by clicking here.

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue to follow this merger and any potential takeover offers.

Chiquita

Fyffes

Cutrale

Safra Group

IRVINE, CA – The California Avocado Commission (CAC) is extending its program promoting the use of California avocados at breakfast.

“Initiatives like our breakfast campaign are positioned to successfully expand usage of California avocados in support of overall category growth,” said Jan DeLyser, CAC Vice President of Marketing.

CAC will be offering retail support materials, media outreach and digital media promotions, according to a press release.  Participating retailers have distributed a recipe booklet called “Wake up to Breakfast” featuring simple, produce-rich recipes and nutritional information by merchandising it with California avocado display bins. 

The breakfast campaign began in 2013 and garnered 75,000 visits to a special California Avocados for Breakfast web page.  This year’s breakfast web page went live on July 30 and features new recipes and tips, according to a press release.  Click here to visit the site.

The program also includes a breakfast-themed email to 220,000 subscribing California avocado fans as well as original content on CAC’s The Scoop blog.  CAC is also working with registered dietitians like Michelle Dudash and Bonnie Taub-Dix to share the good news about California avocado nutrition and the importance of eating breakfast.

Through Facebook, Instagram and Pinteres as well as SeriousEats.com, CAC is using new media to promote this cause.

The California Avocado Commission will continue to generate awareness about the versatility and uses of the California avocado.

California Avocado Commission