Peirone puts precision in its produce

The next time customers purchase a pound of bananas for the advertised 39 cents per pound from retailers like Rosauers, Super 1, Yoke's Fresh Market or Trading Company, consider the tender loving care - and expense - it took to make that fruit have its snappy yellow color on the table or kitchen counter.

Among other things, it took a $1 million investment in carefully climate-controlled coolers near the end of a six-week journey that took the fruit from tree to table.

Upon arrival from South or Central America at Peirone Produce's massive 78,000 square-foot warehouse on the West Plains - a tri...