Archive For The “News” Category
by Fresh Solutions Network, LLC
San Francisco, CA – Fresh Solutions Network announced its packaging design award from Graphic Design USA, American Packaging Design Awards. The award celebrates Side Delights® Roastables fresh potato package design, with its vibrant color palette and rustic visuals, encouraging a perfect potato choice for dinner tonight.
“We had very clear objectives for the design team to express the potential of potatoes as a canvas for bold flavors, while providing the best packaging design on the market,” said Kathleen Triou, President and CEO of Fresh Solutions Network, “We designed the packaging with a very specific audience in mind; stimulating shoppers’ creativity both in-store and at home.”
Side Delights® Roastables are the finest quality, triple-washed, “Awesome Little Yellows,” “Rad Little Reds,” and “Red and Yellow Combo” petite potato varieties. The packaging was designed to appeal to the growing, and coveted group of Millennial shoppers, who are self-described as adventurous with their food choices, frequently trying new recipes featuring fresh food items, and consider food preparation as an important feature of their lifestyle.
Side Delights® Roastables include sachets of delicious, Montana Mex spice blends made with pure, sustainably sourced, gluten-free, 100 percent natural spices. These spice blends appeal to everyone with taste buds, and encourage recipe experimentation at home.
About Fresh Solutions Network, LLC:
Fresh Solutions Network is a group of family owned growers and shippers who choose to work together to make the potato and onion industry better for everyone. FSN helps fresh potato and onion buyers grow their categories, maximize category investment, and increase sales. FSN delivers category insights, collaborative innovation and customized assortment. Fresh Solutions Network, LLC partners are: Sterman Masser, Inc. (Masser Potato Farms and Keystone Potato Products in Sacramento and Hegins, PA), Michael Family Farms, Inc. (Urbana, OH), Basin Gold Cooperative, Inc. (Pasco, WA), Green Thumb Farms, Inc. (Fryeburg, ME), Red Isle Potato Growers, Ltd. (Prince Edward Island, Canada), NoKota Packers, Inc. (Buxton, ND), Sun-Glo of Idaho, Inc. (Sugar City, ID) and Mac Farms (Lake Wales, FL).
A 20-year lease agreement with Port Everglades has been renewed by Marine terminal operator King Ocean Services Ltd. Inc.
King Ocean operates twice a week from Port Everglades with services to Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela and Aruba, The company recently celebrated its 22nd year at the port and the agreement at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., port calls for a minimum 72,000 container lifts annually over an initial 10-year term.
King Ocean nearly doubled its port marine terminal recently to 41 total acres in two locations and in 2015, moved 153,984 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) through the port, according to a news release.
The agreement includes relocating King Ocean’s terminal within the port’s Southport cargo area during construction of the port’s Southport Turning Notch Extension project which is designed to lengthen the deep water turnaround area from 900 feet to 2,400 feet.
Those improvements should allow for up to five new cargo berths and construction is expected to begin in early 2017 and be completed by the end of 2019, according to the release.
“King Ocean has established successful business models at Port Everglades that take advantage of the port’s robust trade lanes to Latin American and the Caribbean and direct highway access,” Steven Cernak, the port’s director and CEO, said in the release.
By NatureFresh Farms
Delta, OH – With an active tomato market acting much like a roller coaster at Six Flags over the last few months, NatureFresh™ Farms created a breathe of fresh air this week announcing the first crop of OhioRed™ tomatoes are being picked.
“It’s a great day for NatureFresh™ to pick the first crop from a new greenhouse, especially in the middle of winter in Ohio”, said Peter Quiring, President. NatureFresh™ Farms announced in January 2015 that it would be building a 180-acre state of the art, high tech greenhouse project in Delta, OH that would allow the company to grow year-round in the mid-west. Interest in the project picked up considerable steam in the fall when the first tomato crop was planted in November. With an increase in hours of sunlight over the coming weeks, crop projections will rise which will mean more Ohio tomatoes making their way to the market.
“We continue to receive email & social media messages daily from consumers that are all over the mid-west asking about our new OhioRed™ brand tomatoes and when they will be available,” commented Chris Veillon, Director of Marketing. Given the location of the facility in Ohio and unique nature of greenhouse vegetable growing, the company has been getting a great deal of interest from local schools wanting tours of the greenhouse. “We look forward to educating students from all over the mid-west about greenhouse growing, just like we do with our mobile Greenhouse Education Center,” Said Veillon. The company’s #GreenInTheCity Tour kicks off March 31st with the mobile greenhouse scheduled to attend more than 80 events in 2016.
Construction of NatureFresh’s Phase II of 15.30 acres is underway and will be completed later this summer. Phase III (15.30 acres) of the greenhouse facility will begin construction late this spring with completion expected in early fall 2016. This will bring NatureFresh’s total acreage of new construction to 45 acres in Ohio alone in less than 12 months. The significant increase in acreage will permit NatureFresh™ Farms to grow tomatoes year-round in Ohio to meet the increasing demand from its customer base in the mid-west & Canada.
Combining the acreage being built in Delta, OH with the company’s current Canadian production in Leamington, ON, NatureFresh™ Farms will grow & market 175 acres of its own production. NatureFresh™ Farms continues to be one of the largest independent, vertically integrated greenhouse growers in North America.
A study claims lettuce may produce more greenhouse gases (GHGs) than bacon does by a particular metric. And there is more to the whole story.
The claim that lettuce produces more GHGs per calorie originates from a Carnegie Mellon University study that was promoted recently.
It found that the U.S. National Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) recommendations on how much produce, seafood and dairy you should eat could be “harmful to the environment.”
The study, by Prof. Paul Fischbeck, and graduate students Michelle Tom and Chris Hendrickson, examined how many resources U.S. diets consume, and how many GHGs they produce per calorie.
“Lots of common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you would think. Eggplant, celery and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken,” Fischbeck said in a news release.
Many outlets (and Carnegie Mellon’s news release) jumped on the study’s finding that lettuce is “three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon.”
And at least one expert blasted the claim as ludicrous.
Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Carnegie Mellon University offers degrees in 20 locations around the world.
So many fields of new almond trees have been planted in Central California in recent years that production has reached a point where prices are beginning to slide.
Almonds have taken an image hit in the last few years in part due to publicity about how much water in drought stricken California is needed to produce a crop. A gradual loss in value has been taking place.
The price per pound of the nut has declined about 20 percent since late 2014.
That 20 percent price decline due to over supply translates into a loss of about $1.8 billion to farmers. A lot of new almond trees have been planted over the last three years.
When the price of almonds rose from around $2.50 per pound three years ago to over $4 per pound in 2014, farmers became over zealous and many replaced their lower-priced crops, like grapes or cotton, with fields of almonds. That flooded the market, and the price dropped to around $3 per pound.
Adding to the problem was the strength of the dollar in 2015. It began to cost more for places like China and India to buy almonds. In turn, Asian markets are shelling out less cash for the crop.
It killed off demand as fewer almonds were purchased.
Potatoes remain a staple in the American diet, wpotatoes account for 15 percent of all consumed vegetables.
A very sophisticated crime ring or perhaps even several crime rings out of the Los Angeles area are stealing truckloads of California tree nuts, worth as much as $500,000, according to statements from the Agricultural Processors Association.
The Department of Transportation’s shipping database has been hacked by thieves, who obtain information from shipping and trucking companies’ Facebook pages so they can identify drivers, and they’re forging documents. This research makes them appear very legitimate when they come to pick up a load of almonds, pistachios, or walnuts.
Many times forged documents will include “burner” cell phone numbers. When a processor or shipper calls the number, they’re talking to one of the thieves posing as a legitimate driver, but by the time they realize the load has been stolen, that phone and number have been discarded without a trace.
In other instances, thieves pretend to be the nut processor and call the drivers who legitimately picked up loads. They tell the driver they discovered a problem with the load and ask him to drop it off at another facility for inspection. The driver does as he’s told, and three days later the company finds out the load never made it to its final destination.
In the rare instances where product has been found, it’s been in locations all across the country, and even in Eastern Europe. By then, it is too late to capture them.
Tree nut thefts have picked up in the last six months. Nuts have become very expensive, makng them a prime target. But a big part of the problem is that there’s little punishment for those responsible for committing crimes of this nature. In 2014, California passed Proposition 47, which classifies “non-serious, nonviolent crimes” as misdemeanors instead of felonies, as long as the defendant doesn’t have prior serious convictions.
Additionally, when an empty trailer is found in Los Angeles, the crime is considered to have taken place there. In Los Angeles, something like nut theft falls pretty low on the list of priorities when it comes to prosecuting criminals.
To make matter worse, insurance isn’t covering these thefts. Because the criminals are picking up the loads illegitimately but without any violence, it’s considered the processor’s negligence. Specific policies have to be purchased for this type of theft.
Although all California-grown tree nuts have been targeted, pistachios have taken the biggest hit. One truckload can be worth as much as $500,000. Even cashews imported to California and processed in the state have been stolen.
Mandarins lead all citrus categories in dollar sales at retail and are up 17.3 percent, representing almost 37 percent of all citrus sales for the last year, according to recent IRI Worldwide data. Mandarins also lead in pound sales, up just over 19 percent.
“The rise in popularity of mandarins follows along with consumer demand for healthy, convenient snacks,” Joan Wickham, manager of advertising and public relations for Sunkist, said in a press release. “Easy to peel and high in Vitamin C, mandarins fit the bill for healthy snacking and they are also juicy, sweet and delicious.”
Sunkist offers retailers multiple packaging and point-of-sale options to help retailers merchandise mandarins to continue driving sales and educate consumers about specialty mandarins varieties.
“Providing flavor profiles, nutrition information, recipes and usage tips encourages consumers to experiment and enjoy mandarins in multiple ways,” Julie DeWolf, director of retail marketing, said in the release.
Mandarins are also trending in foodservice channels, with operators showcasing the versatility of easy-peelers in applications such as adult beverages, salads, desserts and seafood appetizers. Clementines have shown a particularly strong increase on menus, with a nearly 40 percent spike over the past year, driven mainly by increased use in beverages.
“Mandarins are great for snacking, but they’re also wonderful as an ingredient — and increasing foodservice usage across meal parts demonstrates this,” added Wickham.
Sunkist offers Satsuma, Clementine, Royal, W. Murcott and Gold Nugget mandarin varieties from late October through June with multiple packaging options, including the beloved Sunkist Smiles brand.
By Tozer Seeds
SANTA MARIA, CALIF. —Kalettes®, the kale and brussels sprouts hybrid, recently received the 2015 StarChefs Innovator Award at the 10th Annual International Chefs Congress (ICC) for bringing the most exciting new product to market in the food and beverage category.
The ICC is a three-day, industry-only culinary symposium with some of the best food and drink in the country hosted by StarChefs.com, a magazine for culinary insiders serving the restaurant industry since 1995. As much as ICC is about the people, talent, and ideas, it also recognizes innovative products that facilitate so much creativity. In the food and beverage category, Kalettes was awarded by ICC vendors for bringing a product that stirs the imagination and excites the palate.
“We are thrilled to receive this award and feel honored that we can inspire chefs across the country with our new product,” said Kraig Kuykendall, sales manager of Tozer Seeds America, the company behind Kalettes. “Kalettes are the product of 15 years of hard work and dedication so seeing both foodservice professionals and consumers get excited about them is the greatest payoff.”
Kalettes are the product of more than a decade of research by Tozer Seeds, the largest family-owned vegetable breeding company in England. The kale and brussels sprout hybrid offers a fresh fusion of sweet and nutty, combining the best traits of each of its parent vegetables. Kalettes are not genetically modified and were developed by cross-pollinating brussels sprouts with kale through traditional methods.
Tozer Seeds has exclusive marketing agreements with select companies to grow and market Kalettes to create a consistent name and brand identity, which would allow consumers to easily recognize this new vegetable. The companies who have entered into the marketing agreement with Tozer for Kalettes are 4Earth Farms, Classic Salads, Mann Packing, Ocean Mist Farms, Southern Specialties and WP Rawl. As part of the agreement, Kalettes seeds will be sold by Johnny’s Selected Seeds to small farmers and home growers.
Kalettes are available to both retailers and food service distributors directly through the companies. For more information on Kalettes, including recipes, visit www.kalettes.com
The US population continues to consume more and more avocados. Consumption is driven by increased media attention as well as in-store promotions. “This year, a record-shipment of 139 million lbs. is expected to come in from Mexico to be consumed in the run up to and on the day of the Big Game,” said Maggie Bezart Hall with Avocados from Mexico. “This would be a 13 percent increase compared to last year,” she added.
139 million lbs. of avocados equals 278 million individual avocados. This is just for Super Bowl Sunday and the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. “US avocado consumption during the Big Game is enough to fill a football field end zone to end zone more than 53 ft. deep,” shared Bezart Hall. On Super Bowl Sunday, look for the avocado commercial during the first commercial break segment.The majority of avocados being consumed in the US end up in guacamole. Eating avocados on a sandwich is second most popular, followed by salads and avocados consumed by themselves.
Meanwhile, it’s the Denver Broncos vs. the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50!