Entries being taken for Fresno Food Expo

Food producers in the San Joaquin Valley could be hard-pressed to top the pepperoni tamale, one of the winners at last year’s Fresno Food Expo.

But should they decide to enter new products in the fifth annual event, they have until July 2 to do so.

The expo will take place July 23 at the Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center. It will feature food and beverages produced in the Valley, as well as more than 750 people from around the world who work as buyers for grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses. The public can attend for $40.

Casa de Tamales of Fresno, maker of the pepperoni product, shared last year’s Buyer’s Choice Award with San Joaquin Valley Tea from L.T. Sue Co. of Hanford. This honor is decided by celebrity judges.

The public can vote online for the People’s Choice Award starting July 9. Baloian Farms of Fresno won last year with its Squash Sauté Kits.

The awards, said Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin in a news release, bring products “to the forefront of buyers’ attention on the show floor and, as a result, get more products onto store shelves, in restaurant kitchens and into other vital distribution channels.”

The expo is sponsored by the city and numerous partners in business and other sectors. More information is at www.fresnofoodexpo.com.

Elsewhere on the Farm Beat:

A $2 billion sewer project near Sacramento could benefit Modesto-area farmers and other water users down the line.

The project, which broke ground Thursday, will remove about 95 percent of the ammonia from that area’s wastewater, keeping it out of the Sacramento River. That in turn will improve the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and maybe – just maybe – ease pressure to boost flows on the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers.

Users of these rivers have argued that increased flows would hit hard at agriculture. They have suggested “nonflow” measures to improve the rivers and Delta for salmon, such as rebuilding spawning gravels, controlling non-native predators and reducing pollution such the ammonia from Sacramento.

That last project will upgrade a treatment plant in Elk Grove to the “tertiary” level, already achieved by the cities of Modesto, Ceres and Turlock. They are working to deliver their treated water to drought-stressed farmers in the Del Puerto Water District, along Interstate 5 from Vernalis to Santa Nella, although the Turlock Irrigation District would like it, too.

The Sacramento project is expected to take eight years. Sewer customers will cover the cost, aided by a $1.6 billion loan through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

This story was originally published May 29, 2015 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Entries being taken for Fresno Food Expo."