BOUNTIFUL SUMMER

Mina Williams (FNS)

Produce marketers are poised to take full advantage of the 13 fruit and vegetable servings a day recommended as part of the government's new dietary guidelines. This spring and summer, watch for a new crop of materials focusing on commodities as a pure source of certain, specific nutrients.

Blueberries will push their tremendous antioxidant capacity; strawberries will look to tout their cancer-fighting properties; and Pink Lady apples will show off their new heart-check sticker bestowed by the American Heart Association.

"People are much more aware of living a healthy life," said Abby Taylor, communications specialist for the California Strawberry Commission. "With research, we are hoping to say: 'When you eat strawberries, you will gain health benefits.' We want to make California strawberries part of the American diet."

Such desires have been around for years, but it was only recently that advances in testing and analysis have allowed researchers to determine why produce is healthy.

New this year, Pink Lady America is the first apple to get the nod from the American Heart Association's Food Certification Program to use the AHA heart checkmark, along with the logo of the small growers association, based in Yakima, Wash. With no room on the price look-up sticker to promote the message, the group has turned to four-piece and eight-piece clamshell packaging, where the nutritional message is positioned on the bottom. The connection helped push through a record 94,000 boxes of Pink Lady apples during the first week in April, said Alan Taylor, marketing director for the growers.

Blueberry groups were elated several years ago when new studies declared wild blueberries to have the highest antioxidant levels of all produce. The Wild Blueberry Association of America quickly launched its "The Power of Blue" campaign, highlighting the blue-red pigments that give blueberries their antioxidant properties.

Where "The Power of Blue" may be most felt at the retail level this year is in the frozen case. Wild blueberries have a short, five-week harvest season, so once they move out of produce departments, marketing will shift to the frozen-food case.

"Up until now, frozen fruit has been a dormant and uninviting category," said John Sauve, the group's president. "Our job is to target that segment as the primary distribution source of wild blueberries."

The industry's desire to break out of the commodity box and into the specialty arena is understandable. It's the way all commodity products are seeking growth. Here, produce items with health benefits and research to support them can "brand" themselves as a destination item for a particular health-and-wellness attribute. It's a marketer's dream -- provided there's a health hook.

The California Strawberry Commission funded new research beyond its original "Red Edge" campaign to delve into the cancer-fighting attributes of fresh, freeze-dried and frozen strawberries. Findings have shown quercetin, a phytonutrient found in strawberries, induces the programmed self-destruction of human cancer cells. The study focuses on the effect of freeze-dried strawberries -- like those found in many adult breakfast cereals -- on prostate cancer.

Success for any and all produce health messages could just be a matter of smart in-store merchandising. According to ACNielsen, health motivated 87% of consumers to eat more fruits and vegetables. Taste came in second at 74%. Additionally, The NPD Group announced that the long slip in produce consumption has been halted as consumers report a 1% increase in overall servings consumed.