When E. coli wreaked havoc on romaine lettuce production and consumption last fall, the investigation of the outbreaks by the FDA determined three likely sources in the Salinas Valley growing region in California. During the initial period of mitigating harm when fewer answers were available, we wrote about how the production of lettuce in the Salinas Valley was halted, how Wisconsin was hit with dozens of E. coli related illness linked to pre-cut romaine, and how the FDA was reviewing hundreds of distribution records to ensure specifics were determined. Recently released findings from this investigation include details on probable causation and the result of traceback efforts.

Harvest Quality Vision has been revolutionizing harvest and in-orchard quality control for apple growers around the world, and we are thrilled to announce its expansion into new products! Introducing the latest update: harvest and quality control for pears!

As the covid-19 crisis continues, we have seen packing and agricultural workers testing positive across North America. Experts agree that contact tracing will be needed going forward to avoid bursts of new Coronavirus infections, which could lead to complete shut downs of many essential operations.

Commonly used terminology for the categories of fresh food we enjoy – fruits and vegetables – are often misnomers. From a culinary terminology standpoint, fruits are sweet and vegetables are not. Though it may vary depending on one’s background and region, generally the highlight of the public’s classification knowledge regarding what is a fruit and what is a vegetable is the fun fact of “Did you know that tomatoes are actually a fruit?!”