Dole Food Co., Westlake Village, Calif., entered into a partnership with Safeway Fresh Foods, Vineland, N.J., to expand Dole’s product line to include new fresh fruits and vegetables.

“Through our collaboration, Dole Fresh Vegetables will expand our portfolio of offerings to include items such as a full line of ready-to-eat salads, snacks, fresh-cut platters, value-added vegetables and many other possibilities,” says Michael Solomon, president of Dole Fresh Vegetables. “Safeway brings a tremendous strength in production that greatly complements Dole’s innovation strategy and product sales and marketing. There is a great synergy between our companies, which will ultimately benefit our customers and consumers with new products that are being developed to satisfy needs not being met by current products in the marketplace.”

“Dole and Safeway Fresh Foods have a great history, working together for many years on one-off projects,” adds Frank Tedesco, chief executive officer of the Safeway Group. “This partnership allows us to consistently tap each other’s resources and leverage each other’s strengths in the co-development of new product ideas.”

The new product lines are expected to hit stores in 2019.