News and Stories

FROM THE FIELDS: Insect Pressure in Mexican Kale

February 25, 2016

 

Ready-Set-Serve (RSS) Washed & Trimmed Green Kale and Flowering Kale from Mexico are temporarily unavailable; packer label is being substituted.

 

The excessively hot weather over the last three weeks is ideal for aphid populations to flourish, particularly in the Mexicali Valley region where there is currently a large amount of grass and hay that attract insects. The recent daytime highs (in the 80s to low 90s) are not typically experienced in this area until late in the season (late March/early April).

 

Markon’s supplier has been implementing counter measures at the field and processing levels to control the insect pressure, but the problem has been difficult to eliminate completely. Markon will temporarily substitute packer label product and recommends that operators rinse product thoroughly before use (a step that is not needed under normal circumstances).

 

Markon inspectors will continue to monitor finished product samples and will update further when RSS Washed & Trimmed Kale becomes available again (within the next two weeks, pending weather conditions).

 

Please contact your Markon customer service representative for more information.

 

John Galvez

Quality Assurance

markon.com