Independents / Regional Grocers

CINCINNATI -- Kroger Co. has become the first major retailer in the country to offer a line of fully sanitized, tray-wrapped whole fruits and vegetables, supplied by a local shipper who also cleans and packages the items for retail sale.Currently, the retailer is offering Fuji and Gala apples, tomatoes, oranges, peaches, nectarines and some varieties of potatoes in all 125 Houston-area Kroger stores.The

byBob Vosburgh