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P r o d u c e S h o w D a i l y T h u r s d a y, M a y 1 6 , 2 0 1 3 1 4 By Brian Lapin, Salesman, Stellar Distributing Stellar Distributing has been a leader in the produce market in such commodities as kiwi and limes for more than 20 years. Figs, persimmons and pomegranates have also become major players for the company and continue to grow every year. Stellar Distributing has focused on shipping great quality pro- duce at a great price with the end goal in mind of having the consumer not have to pay an arm and a leg for those products. Innovative pack styles and new creative boxes allow that to be possible and also help in preserving the environment by cutting down the production of wasteful box styles and packs. Stellar Distributing has always wanted to be profitable, but not at the expense of the environment, and being creative in this way allows them to do both. This year, Stellar Distributing has come out with a new fig variety called the tiger fig. The tiger fig is brand new and features yellow and green stripes which resemble the stripes of a tiger. The inside flesh is raspberry red and the fig itself is sweeter than any of the other varieties. The tiger fig is the definition of great quality produce, and because of this, Stellar Distributing is going to make sure it gets into the hands of the con- sumers as quickly as possible. Stellar is aware that without the consumer, the company is worthless so they operate keeping that in mind. When all is said and done, Stellar Distributing will be ready and able to provide the best produce available on the commodities they handle because they care about what they do. With the fig sea- son quickly approaching, it surely feels like this will be the year of the tiger at Stellar Distributing. For more information, visit booth 702 at United Fresh 2013, go online to www.stellardistributing.com, call 559- 664-8400 or email sales@stellardistrib- uting.com. IT'S THE YEAR OF THE TIGER FIG AT STELLAR DISTRIBUTING Heinzen Manufacturing partnered with Victory Organics, Canada, to receive the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food Premiers' award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence, the Leader in Innovation Award. The washed baby greens industry has existed for 25 years and has created a vast variety of products which are sta- ples in the family fridge. California has led the way in food safety innovation for the salad industry and has resulted in large powerful food processors that con- trol vast swaths of market share. This leaves the question: Is there room for small locally grown producer and processor? Vivek Rajakumar, Owner of V i c t o r y Organic chal- lenged HMI to make a small scale system that could be affordable for a small grower. "I instructed them to create a system with a wash basin that could agitate the salad, send it along a small conveyor and into a basket and from the basket into a drying machine," Rajakumar said. With this concept, the wash system should be half the size of the current sys- tems. After a series of meetings and exchanging sketches, Bob Wash was born. Bob Johnson, the HMI Sales Engineer whom the Bob Wash is named for, worked directly with Vivek to devel- op the scaled down system that has all the features of a validated large scale sys- tem. The Bob Wash took five months to develop, two weeks to set up, and it has been in operation for one year. Employees at Victory Organic are in a rhythm of using the Bob Wash and it has led to a product that is free of insects, debris, and has increased the shelf life of our salad according to customer feed- back. The Bob Wash has elevated the company's image from a small farm that produced field harvested greens to a grower/processor which washes, packs and delivers. In regards to food safety, the wash system allows an operator to easily mix sanitizing agents into the wash water to kill harmful pathogens such as e-coli and salmonella. It has also given the compa- ny motivation to do in house e-coli and coliform testing to determine the safety of wash water, and the waste water. This has brought Victory Organic salad prod- ucts to a higher level of corporate clients, normally difficult to access as a small scale farmer. The innovation is commercialized in the U.S.A. and is promoted by Heinzen Manufacturing. In Canada, Victory Organic was the first to start using this technology but has promoted it through the Premiers Award will hopefully inspire more farmers to adopt this tech- nology in the years to come. For more information, call 800-6554675, visit www.heinzen.com or stop by booth 904. THE BOB WASH: INNOVATION IN SMALL SCALE PROCESSING By Kei Tanaka, Vice President, Foreign Exchange Advisor, Bank of the West, and Steve Herrick, Vice President, Senior Trade Manager, Bank of the West Produce and fresh fruit have "gone global" and even small businesses buy and sell internationally. Some try to elim- inate the hassles and risks by selling COD and by doing transactions in dol- lars. COD sales can work for franchises and big box stores, but they could also cost you sales to credit-worthy buyers. Your dollars only policy could eliminate potential customers who wish to pay for goods in their own currency. Investigate the advantages of buying or selling your product in currency of the suppliers and customers. For example, an importer thinks it's easier to ask a producer in Mexico to invoice in U.S. dollars. However, the producer's costs are in Mexican pesos. If the producer takes on the peso/dollar exchange rate, he takes on the exposure to the exchange rate risk. If the buyer is able to contract all or part of the produc- tion in Mexican pesos, both the buyer Continued on Page 19 INCREASE YOUR RETURN ON CROSS-BORDER BUSINESS WITH BANK OF THE WEST In March 2012, ESI Group was selected to design and construct tenant improve- ments to an existing dry warehouse for Portland, Ore.-based Organically Grown Company, the Pacific Northwest's largest wholesaler of organic fruits, vegetables and herbs. The project scope included a new ammonia refrigeration system and refrigeration skid package, new overhead dock doors, rapid roll cooler doors, concrete curbs, insulated metal wall and ceiling panels, as well as new ripening rooms. The new areas included: A +38 ORGANICALLY GROWN COMPANY EXPANDS WITH THE HELP OF ESI GROUP degree Fahrenheit, 18,652-square-foot perishable dock, a +50 degree Fahrenheit, 11,135-square-foot cooler, a +45 degree Fahrenheit, 11,464-square- foot cooler, a +34 degree Fahrenheit, 17,325-square-foot wet cooler, a +34 degree Fahrenheit, 21,980-square-foot cooler, a +50 degree Fahrenheit, 14,159- square-foot repack room, eight ripening rooms at 2,885 square feet, and a 580- square-foot mechanical house-skid pack- age, totaling at 97,600 square feet. The new facility features include: A central ammonia refrigeration system, floor-supported evaporator stands, an insulated metal wall panel system, insu- lated metal ceiling panel system through- out, three 21-pallet single temp forced air rapid chill rooms, five 21-pallet dual temp fruit ripening rooms, ethylene fil- tration in wet coolers and a dry pendant head sprinkler system. Organically Grown is promoting health through organic agriculture as a leading sustainable organization. For more information about ESI Group, visit booth 1311 or go online to www.esi- groupusa.com. FOX PACKAGING HAS PRODUCE FRESHNESS IN THE BAG Fox Packaging delivers reliable and innovative packaging solutions that not only meet the complex needs of retail buyers, but also the evolving needs of produce distributors. "Our family has committed over 45 years to understanding the technical details behind the respiration and ripening process of various fresh pro- duce items and turning that knowledge into a line of unparalleled packaging solutions," said Aaron Fox, Vice President of Fox Packaging. "Our cus- tomers also know they can depend on our knowledge of packing processes to assist them in streamlining operations and improving their bottom line." The most unique aspect of the entire line of Fox Fresh Mesh bags is that they are made of a non-woven, one-dimensional mesh material called CLAF®, which eliminates the skin- damaging effects left by many woven mesh products, and is uniquely strong and gentle at the same time. This pre- mium mesh material is available to customers in more than 10 colors. Another benefit of the Fox family Continued on Page 27