N.Y. AG Sues Major Egg Producer and Hazel AC for Apple Storage
**New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing egg producer Hillandale Farms for allegedly gouging its prices during the pandemic.
modernfarmer.com reports, James’s office announced last week it filed a lawsuit against Hillandale for allegedly charging consumers up to four times as much for a carton of eggs than it had before the pandemic.
The lawsuit claims the Ohio-Pennsylvania-based producer made around $4 million by illegally increasing its prices on around 4 million cartons of eggs sold in New York State between March and April.
**Chicago-based Hazel Technologies is launching a new product for apples in storage.
Called Hazel CA, for Controlled Atmosphere, the technology helps protect quality of fruit in cold storage, one of many new technology offerings Hazel will be launching this year.
According to thepacker.com, Hazel CA works by controlling the respiration rate and ethylene production of apples in cold storage.
In commercial trials last season, the technology showed promising results.
**A few days after authorities said an insect carrying a deadly plant disease had been found for the first time in a California commercial citrus grove, University of California scientists described progress in possibly counteracting HLB disease.
UC Riverside researchers say they created models of the bacterium that causes HLB, which could help manage it.
Another UC Riverside team recently announced progress on a treatment.