Danny Deen: “Already major price hikes” The Chinese province of Shandong was hammered by storms and floods last weekend. The worst hit were the ginger growing regions like Weifang and Anqiu. These adverse weather conditions severely damaged ginger supplies. “Ginger is traditionally stored underground. However, the excess water flooded these storage cellars. The ginger being

Popular fresh herbs like basil are still going strong, but interest in lesser known herbs is also growing. ( Infinite Herbs & Specialties ) Marketers report continuing strong demand for fresh herbs, buoyed by several food trends. Basil continues to lead the pack, but growers reported rising interest in other herbs as well. “The up-and-comer

Infinite Herbs and Specialties is a distributor of culinary herbs. Their packaging facility in Everett trims, packages, and ships herbs received in bulk from their production facilities. Infinite Herbs worked with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and RecyclingWorks in MA to set up organics collection to comply with the Commercial Food Waste Disposal Ban.

The overall produce category grew $13.2 billion between 2012 and 2016, according to a new Nielsen report. Branded products’ dollar share gained 7.7 percentage points in that time period, lifting the group to 38.5 percent of the total. Unbranded produce, meanwhile, lost 8.6 percentage points, shrinking its share to 49.9 percent of the total. Branded

NEW ORLEANS — The Produce Marketing Association kicked off its 68th annual Fresh Summit convention and exposition Oct. 20, here, drawing members of the fresh fruit, vegetable and floral industry from around the globe. While the final numbers were not yet available, there were indications that the event would draw a record number of attendees.

Weather seems to have taken its toll on some culinary herbs, whatever the region. “Right now there are some issues with herbs such as cilantro because of the heat in California,” says Camilo Penalosa of Miami, Fl.-based Infinite Herbs. “It’s also rained in areas of Mexico where at this time of the year it doesn’t

June 16, 2017 CHICAGO — The United Fresh expo floor opened Wednesday, June 14, marking the debut of the FreshTEC and FreshMKT expos. The aisles were packed, and attendees were able to experience every segment of the supply chain in one exhibit hall — FreshTEC Expo, FreshMKT Expo, Global Cold Chain Expo and International Floriculture

Supplies look steady in U.S.-grown lemongrass. “We don’t foresee any issues right now with lemongrass,” says Camilo Penalosa of Miami, Fl.-based Infinite Herbs. “The farms we work with have had steady yields. Sometimes we have shortages but it’s more often in the summer but this time of the year not so much.” Steady supplies mean