Fresh Cut Magazine

Marketing Food Safety and Food Security

It’s not sexy to tout your food safety program. But is it smart? Absolutely. Many people inside our industry have grown tired of hearing about food safety. But the fact is it’s here to stay, along with its cousin, food security. So why not make it one of your most important selling points when making a presentation to a client or a potential client? Start by imagining you are bringing a potential client to your facility to finalize a deal. Drive in and take note of things. Did a guard stop you out front? Your food security plan should have someone posted to keep unwanted people out. Is anyone at your front desk when you come into your office area or can you just wander in? Security includes your employees. Do your visitors – and employees – need to wear identification badges? Your checklist should go…  » Read more

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Looking into the Future

USDA released its agricultural projections through 2017 in February, and the report indicates that agriculture - and the fresh-cut industry by inference - is poised for some good years ahead. Rising costs – labor, fuel and land – will increasingly be offset by rising agricultural exports and changes in consumer spending, according to the report. Demand for new varieties and rising consumer incomes will increase agricultural imports to nearly $105 billion by 2017, while growth in developing countries, a weak dollar and steady population growth will drive agricultural exports to $103 billion . One of the most interesting sections of the agricultural report is the breakdown on consumer food spending. In 2007, Americans spent $583.6 billion on food at home, compared to $554.1 billion on food away from home. By 2012 – just a few years from now – money spent on food away from…  » Read more

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Georgia researcher perfecting fresh-sliced peaches

Fresh-cut sliced peaches, packaged in a clear plastic inverted cup, are about two years away from the convenience food market, if things come together as Kathryn Taylor hopes they will. A horticultural specialist in stone fruits at the University of Georgia, Taylor has been working to develop the protocol for making this new product, which would put Georgia peaches alongside sliced apples and melons in the fresh, healthy, ready-to-eat fruit snack category. She hopes to patent both the processing protocol and the solution needed to treat the cut peaches so they won’t brown, ferment, rot or lose their texture during two weeks or more of storage at 33˚ F. She apologized to her audience during the Southeastern Peach Convention, which was part of the Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Savannah in early January. She said she was “being very obtuse right now” about both the…  » Read more

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Fresh-cut processor helps drive growth of avocado market

For the last 10 years, one company was at the top of the A.C. Nielsen retail sales charts, but few people knew its name. Although the packaging was unique, competitors had begun to imitate it, so a new, recognizable brand name was needed. So that company launched a naming contest in August 2007, and when the votes were tallied, the new name for the avocado processor was Wholly Guacamole. Since then, the company has started a vigorous brand marketing program to grow the avocado and guacamole market further. It all began with Don Bowden 38 years ago. He owned a chain of Mexican restaurants in Texas, but was having trouble finding good guacamole. The problem, it turned out, was the quality of the avocadoes. Bowden started traveling to Mexico to find a source of good fruit, then started a small processing operation. He tried every way…  » Read more

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