Grocery industry set for the impact of severe freeze.

With the costs of the last week's freeze--the biggest to hit the California produce industry in 20 years--headed past $1 billion, Los Angeles-area distributors, grocers and workers are trying to figure how the disaster could affect them.

The Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.'s chief economist, Jack Kyser, said that Los Angeles County employs close to 75,000 workers in the produce industry, and several thousand of those could face layoffs or some kind of work disruption.

"There will inevitably be unrest in the wholesale grocers sector, which employs more than 30,000 people here, as well as the processing and agriculture sectors, which employ close to another 30,000 combined," he said. "It's too early to tell if there will be layoffs, but there is definitely concern."

The freeze was definitely bad news for Sherman Oaks-based Sunkist Growers, which is the marketing arm of the nation's largest co-op of citrus growers.

"We still have to wait and see what happens to the trees; but just by assessing the damage done to the crops, this may be the worst disaster to ever hit the California produce industry," said Claire Smith, a spokeswoman for Sunkist. "We'll be feeling the effects of this well into the summer."

Aside from fewer oranges and avocadoes on produce stands, Southland consumers are also going to feel the pinch in such produce as lettuce, strawberries and avocadoes, which are produced locally and have seen prices double in some cases.

"This freeze is going to cost everyone a lot of money, including grocers, distributors and customers--but most of all the growers," said Jack Brown, chairman and chief executive of Colton-based Stater Bros., one of the largest grocers in Southern California.

"We're going to lose a lot of money on sales. Oranges are very popular fruits. We also have to put more people on the receiving docks to double check the produce coming in to ensure it isn't damaged or substandard, which costs us as well."

More work

Some local processors and distributors will have to hire more workers to sift through the frozen produce to salvage as much as possible.

"Our yields in our primary products, romaine and iceberg lettuce, have been the hardest hit," said Steve Dickstein, a spokesman for Irwindale-based Ready Pac Produce Inc., one of the largest distributors of pre-packaged, ready-to-eat produce.

"We've had to hire more workers to get as much quality product out of what's available. We've also had to discard a lot more produce due to quality concerns, essentially just wasting it."

L.A. area distributors such as Ready Pac and Vernon-based Melissa's/World Variety Produce Inc., one of the largest distributors of specialty produce in the country, say this is all part of doing business in the California produce industry.

"This happens once every five or so years and there isn't much you can do about it," Robert Schueller, a spokesman for privately held Melissa's, said. "We prepare for these types of things in our business plans so the best we can do is look for alternatives and try to move on."