With a combination of old world service and new world innovation, Catania Worldwide leads an international group of companies dedicated to maintaining the attitude and integrity of the original company founded in 1929 by Michael Leonard Catania.

Mario Masellis, director of procurement for the Mississauga, ON-based company, noted that when it comes to summer citrus, Catania prides itself on being an importer, distributor and provider of value-add services, such as packaging and customized-bagging. The latter could be anything from a two-pound bag all the way up to an eight-pound bag.

“It all depends on what the customer wants,” he said. “It also depends on the label they want to put on it, if they have their own film or want us to develop film for them.”

With more than 80 years of experience behind it, the company knows what it takes to prosper in the industry. For Masellis, it all starts with having consistent quality, and not just bagging everything. He said that because shipping takes time, there are mechanisms in place to make sure that no bad fruit gets through.

“Being successful is not having the retailer see any of that,” he said. “We weed out all of the bad stuff, and make sure the taste is at its optimal experience. Only then will we ship it out.”

Labor disruptions are causing challenges for the company, but that’s an issue facing everyone in the industry today.

“A lot of people think we can get cheaper labor because of where we grow, but if you bag the fruit there, you can’t ship it out unless you relook at it and you would need to reopen the bag and it doesn’t make sense,” Masellis said. “Unfortunately, our labor costs here have gone up, especially in Ontario where our minimum wage has increased from $11.75 to $14 an hour. Also, we’ve heard the minimum wage will be installed in South Africa, so that will increase their costs as well.”

Transportation costs have also recently grown due to new regulations installed on truckers. But these are challenges that they are dealing with and the company is just happy things are running smooth with the upcoming season.

“Crops are looking pretty much the same as last year, growing methods haven’t really changed, and equipment hasn’t changed much, so we’re basically just moving along,” he said.

With summer citrus, there’s not a great deal of packaging options, as you can’t go into clamshells, so bagging remains the one way to dress up the product.

In early 2018, the company opened a new facility in Vineland, NJ, that will serve as a brand-new distribution center and storage facility. It will replicate its production line in Toronto and be able to bag, sort and distribute to customers on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.

“We will be up and running with full certification in a couple of weeks,” Masellis said. “Another thing that’s exciting is we are going for full certification of our avocado production in Mexico and we should be fully food-safety-certified for avocados out of Mexico by August.”