President's Message
By Gary Ford 
As I reflect on the passing of another year I am filled with a sense of bitter-sweetness. With headlines featuring the unsteady economy and food safety scares, it was easy to get swept up in the frenzy the media created for us. But even in these hard times I am thankful for the continued success of our industries and am filled with a respect for the people who continue to make them so wonderful. <read more>

Fumigation Seminar: A Class Above the Rest
By Kasey Harper Ferreria
On November 4th, local industry members attended the 2009 Pesticide & Fumigation Safety Training Seminar at the Ramada Inn, in Fresno. The objective was simple: To offer continuing education for ACFSQ/DFA members... <read more>

Annual Meeting February 18th & 19th
By Rich Cherrix
The dried fruit and tree nut industries come together once again at our association’s annual conference & meetings. If you haven’t attended before, this is your opportunity to meet all the industry leaders involved in the processing, sales and exporting of California’s billion dollar industry. <read more>

Member Spotlight: Valley Fig Growers
Valley Fig Growers, headquartered in Fresno, California, is the largest producer of dried figs in North America. The grower-owned cooperative markets its dried and value added fig products under the Blue Ribbon®, Blue Ribbon® Orchard Choice®, and Sun-Maid® brands to domestic and international retail grocers, food service operators and food manufacturers. Established in 1959, this 30-member cooperative is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Linda Cain, vice president of Marketing for Valley Fig Growers noted that they were established in 1959 to ensure a consistent supply of fair priced California dried figs. Today they are the leading supplier of quality dried fig products to home cooks, culinary professionals, and food manufactures. <read more>

Prune Industry Update
By Pat Ferreira 
The prune harvest and drying season has concluded. Fall has come and gone. Winter and the holidays are upon us. Earlier this year, the California Agricultural Statistics Service (CASS) predicted the 2009 prune crop estimate to be 170,000 tons. Then the prune prognosticators announced 160,000 tons was a more realistic number. Just think, in the year 2000 we had a prune crop in excess of 200,000 tons and implemented a tree pull program. <read more>  

Staff Spotlight: Gail Santana  
While some people enjoy the recognition of "being in the spotlight" due to a job well done, Gail prefers to work behind the scenes. As Gail would put it "I like to get the job done without anyone noticing that there was a need for something to be taken care of." <read more>

24th European Dried Fruit Meeting
By Mike Hurley
On November 20th the European Dried Fruit Meeting was held in Hamburg, Germany. I was privileged to represent the ACFSQ/DFA at this annual meeting, which included nine countries along with the USA. <read more>

HACCP: Don’t be Caught in the Dark
By Kathryn Heimann
In recent years the awareness of food-borne illness has prompted an increased focus on prevention. To address food safety concerns, retailers and grocers have begun to insist that their suppliers have effective food safety systems, including Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). <read more>

Possible Pension Relief
By Jeff Emslie
It may be a case of the "Law of Unintended Consequences" when Congress passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) that was signed into law on August 17, 2006. Instead of protecting defined benefit pension plans as the legislation’s name suggests, this act may have had the unintended result of accelerating their demise. Recently, two U.S. House of Representative members have introduced new legislation to provide relief from some of the more onerous provisions of the 2006 law. More stringent funding requirements required by the PPA coupled with the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression has left companies with potentially huge future funding requirements. <read more>

Why So Many Recalls?
By Mike Hurley
It seems like every time you pick up a newspaper, there’s another food recall for pathogenic bacteria. Have you ever wondered why? Are food plants getting worse in sanitation? Are Salmonella and E. coli mutating to make super bugs? <read more>

The Depression Years 1930-1939
By Richard Cherrix
Between the years of 1929 and 1939 the world saw one of the most devastating periods of hardship, poverty, and governmental instability. With the start of the Great Depression governments from around the world were thrown into almost ten years of turmoil. The ravages of the Great Depression did not spare the dried fruit industry. One of the first actions of the Association was to cut the initiation fee from $2,000 to $1,000 in August 1930. <read more>

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IN THIS ISSUE

The Red Seal - Home

President's Message

Fumigation Seminar

Annual Meeting

Member Spotlight: Valley Fig Growers

Prune Industry Update

Staff Spotlight: Gail Santana

24th European Dried Fruit Meeting

HACCP

Possible Pension Relief

Why so Many Recalls?

The Depression Years