News and Stories

Markon’s suppliers of Ready-Set-Serve salads and tender leaf items have successfully moved their processing operations from Salinas, California to Yuma, Arizona over the last few days and are nearly back to full production.

Due to a recent heat wave with highs in the upper 80s to mid-90s, some value-added items are exhibiting sporadic quality issues similar to those Markon inspectors have been observing in commodity iceberg and leaf lettuce items. These problems include, but are not limited to the following:

Iceberg

• Core material
• Dense texture/occasional chunks or wads
• Internal burn

Romaine

• Bruising on dark green, outer leaf material
• Core material
• Fringe burn on outer leaves

Tender Leaf

• Brittle/fragile texture
• Elevated mechanical damage or fine pieces
• Occasional yellowing

Temperatures have begun to ease to near-seasonal norms, but most upcoming supplies have sustained varying amounts of heat-related defects. Accelerated growth has pushed some fields up to 15 days ahead of their intended harvesting dates, causing many growers to abandon acres that are rapidly becoming over-mature. Harvesting and processing crews are taking measures to reduce or eliminate as many of the above-mentioned defects as possible, but won’t be able to completely remove them until raw product quality improves. Markon inspectors will be monitoring supplies and working with processors to select the best available product for Markon orders.

Please contact your Markon customer service representative for more information.

John Galvez

Quality Assurance

markon.com

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