Fresh Cut Magazine

New packaging, promotions “re-invent” the bagged salad line

Bagged salads jump-started the fresh-cut produce industry and today account for nearly $5 billion in sales. A few big companies, one of which is Monterey, Calif.-based Dole Fresh Vegetables, dominate the segment. Dole’s share of the market is growing, approaching 40 percent, and it is the world’s largest producer and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables, with revenues of $7.6 billion in 2008. Growth has slowed in recent years, however. Dole hopes to change that by re-inventing its product packaging and launching a full national marketing program to encourage healthy eating with Dole bagged salads. The most noticeable re-invention, or re-imagining, as Dole calls it, of the salad line is the redesigned packaging. The new design was rolled out at the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit in Anaheim, Calif., in October and hit stores that month. Canadian consumers started to see the new packaging in November. Packaging and…  » Read more

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Foodservice survey finds consumers eating out more, but spending less

Americans are eating out more now than at the beginning of the year, but they’re spending less at each visit, according to a new study published by AlixPartners in October. The study surveyed 1,000 consumers to evaluate their eating trends and compare the results to surveys conducted earlier in the 2009. In the fourth quarter of 2009, 63 percent of consumers reported that they dined out at least once a week, an increase over 2008. On a monthly basis, the study found consumers ate at fast food restaurants slightly more than six times a month on average, about three times a month at fast casual restaurants, three times a month at casual dining restaurants and once a month and once a month at a fine dining restaurants. The numbers for 2009 were comparable to 2008 except for fine dining, which dropped from an average of 1.6…  » Read more

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Ohio State research can extend shelf life

Ohio State University food science researcher V.M. "Bala" Balasubramaniam isn't feeling pressure to perform. He's using pressure. The associate professor of food science and technology studies how high-pressure food processing can be used and refined to preserve low-acid foods, allowing them to stay fresh for extensive periods while inactivating the bacteria and other pathogens that would otherwise make them unsafe. Balasubramaniam, who also has appointments with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and Ohio State University Extension, and his research associate Jeremy Somerville just published an article on their work, "Pressure-Assisted Thermal Sterilization (PATS) of Low-Acid, Shelf-Stable Foods," in the current issue of Resource, a publication of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. "Most of the traditional products available in the market today are heat-processed," Balasubramaniam said. "Although heat processing, or thermal processing, is one of the safest technologies available today, heat also destroys…  » Read more

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Window Shopping

I realized recently just how dependent I am on convenience foods. There’s very little in my house that’s not ready to eat or doesn’t require minimal cooking. One evening when my wife was out of town, I came back from the gym and started looking around my kitchen for something to eat. Not wanting to drive to a restaurant or cook something, I figured I would be relegated to eating a bowl of cereal or a bag of chips. But instead, I was able to have a fresh-cut salad in a single-serving package – which I had bought on sale for 50 cents – a microwaveable noodle dish with veggies and a side of broccoli and cheese. I had a full meal with healthful ingredients and had spent less than the cost of going out for fast food or takeout. And, I had purchased those value-added…  » Read more

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