A navel by any other name

I was strolling through Wal-Mart in suburban Kansas City yesterday and noted they continue to promote watermelons extensively as you walk in the door, with bins of both standard seedless and Bambino miniseedless melons featured.

As you walk into the produce department, Frey Farms homegrown cantaloupes were featured at 2 for $4, while orange flesh and juan canary melons were 2 for $6.

California valencia oranges were featured at 58 cents each; unfortunately they were merchandised under the navel sign - again. Correctly signing varieties - not to mention country of origin designations - is an ongoing challenge for big box retailers.

Red and green seedless grapes were both featured at $1.48 per pound. A three-pound mesh bag of of Peru clementines were featured at $3.57.

Speaking of Peru citrus, I noticed that Peru's citrus exporters made a colorful splash in The Packer this week with their ad touting minneolas. Check out their Web site at www.procitrus.org.