ATLANTA — Compostable salad kits, sweetpotatoes, strawberries and tropicals were among the hot topics at the International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Produce and Floral Show, Oct. 17-19, at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Amber Maloney, marketing director for Wish Farms, said the show is important to the company because it leads up to its Florida strawberry season, which begins in December.
Despite recent challenges from hurricanes, Maloney said the company remains positive about the season’s prospects.
“We’re recouping from two back-to-back hurricanes, but despite the challenges, we’re still optimistic about the season,” she said. “We have some blooms coming, and we’re finishing up planting, but overall are hopeful and looking forward to a good Florida strawberry season come December.”
Maloney said Wish Farms values the opportunity to connect with retail customers and suppliers at the expo and that it’s crucial for planning and supply chain coordination.
“This show is important because we get that face time with our retail customers leading into the season,” she said. “On the supply side, we’re connecting with a lot of our international suppliers, which is a big part of our business.”
Coast Tropical was promoting various products at the expo including mango clamshells, malanga, yuca and boniato bags in a 3-pound size. They also highlighted an abundance of mangoes available for shipping.
“We’ll be having plenty of mangoes in another week or so,” Fosado said.
In addition, the company featured plantains sourced from Ecuador.
Coast Tropical operates out of San Francisco; Los Angeles; McAllen, Texa; and Princeton, Fla., and ships to all 50 states across the U.S.
At the Mission Produce booth, Brooke Becker discussed the company’s expansion from avocados to mangoes over the past three years, leveraging its 40-year experience in vertical integration and ripening technology.
“Mission has been more than 40 years in the game, and we’ve been focused on avocados for a majority of those 40 years,” she said. “As part of our diversified sourcing strategy, we’ve invested in vertical integration, and that’s like the heart and soul behind our company.
“When you actually own the land, you grow it and then you sell it, you procure it, and you have an actual field-to-fork mentality, that’s when you can divulge in a big program,” Becker continued.
Mission now operates in 10 countries and has seen significant success in the mango market, Becker said. The company recently launched a retail-ready mango four-pack with a QR code for handling and recipe instructions, to provide consumer education about mangoes.
Mission plans to continue promoting avocados and mangoes, focusing on education in the U.S. and diversified sourcing across its 16 premium growing regions with a promising year ahead in retail, wholesale and foodservice, Becker said.
“We’re featuring our regular lineup of over 30 items, and then we’re promoting in the show Green Fork, a new salad kit line, and compostable packaging,” said Bridget Boskovich at the Boskovich Family Farms booth.
She highlighted the health aspects of the new line of salad kits.
“We worked with an awesome chef to create salad kits that are custom ingredients, a low amount of ingredients — not a bunch of junk in it. It’s a great product line,” she said.
Additionally, Boskovich mentioned the promotion of compostable packaging that is home-compostable and breaks down within 60 days.
Jeremy Fookes said the A.V. Thomas booth was promoting its specialty varietals along with its organic sweetpotatoes.
“And right now, the purple-fleshed varieties of sweetpotatoes have gained popularity due to their positive portrayal in a Netflix series about the ‘Blue Zones’ — geographical areas with high numbers of centenarians because of their diets and lifestyles,” he said.
Fookes highlighted the benefits of introducing new sweetpotato varieties, the variety of sweetpotatoes available plus the value of steamer bags and microwavable options, which are convenient for consumers.
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