PRESS RELEASE Brentwood, MO – Most Americans know they should, and desperately want to, eat more fruits and vegetables; they also recognize they need support from others to achieve their goals. The Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) is pleased to announce its 2018 Fruits & Veggies—More Matters Award Recipients as those who have gone above and beyond to promote fruit and vegetable consumption.
To be considered for these accolades, individuals, businesses, including those within the produce industry as well as those in retail and foodservice, and public health organizations must demonstrate support for the Fruits & Veggies—More Matters brand platform and engage in community outreach with the collective goal to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables.
The outstanding efforts of these organizations and individuals will be acknowledged formally at an awards luncheon on April 23, 2019 during PBH’s Consumer Connection conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, April 22-25.
“The more than 70 award recipients are strong advocates and partners with PBH, focused on our common mission to inspire consumers to eat more fruits and vegetables every single day,” says Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, President and CEO of PBH. “PBH is thrilled to be aligned with such passionate people at the forefront of our industry and with those who are interacting directly with consumers daily to help them achieve happier, healthier lives by eating more fruits and veggies.”
“No one person or organization can change Americans’ collective fruit and vegetable consumption. Partnership and collaboration are key to seeing the needle move. It is important to recognize supporters like these who have a played a critical role in helping to change consumers’ fruit and vegetable consumption behaviors,” says Reinhardt Kapsak.
About Industry Role Models
These companies have demonstrated their dedication to helping consumers eat more fruits and veggies by leveraging the More Matters brand in their collective communication platforms, as well as supporting PBH through their own channels.
PBH is also delighted to announce the 2018 Excellence Award Honorees (listed below). These Honorees have demonstrated the greatest amount of support in terms of breadth and depth for PBH throughout 2018 and have played an integral role in PBH’s new brand transformation, which will also be launched at The Consumer Connection.
2018 Industry Role Models:
American Frozen Food Institute8
Barsotti Family Juice Company7
Bayer7
Black Gold Farms7
Blue Book Services, Inc.8
California Avocado Commission7
California Strawberry Commission7
Campbell Soup Company6
Can Manufacturers Institute6
Canned Food Alliance7
Chelan Fresh Marketing10
Del Monte Foods, Inc.8
Dole Food Company7
Dole Packaged Foods, LLC5
Domex Superfresh Growers9
Duda Farm Fresh Foods9
Juice Products Association7
Mariani Packing Company, Inc.7
McEntire Produce, Inc.4
Monterey Mushrooms Inc5
Naturipe Farms, LLC6
Okanagan Specialty Fruits5
Pacific Coast Producers8
Potatoes USA6
Produce Business Magazine4
Produce Marketing Association8
Robinson Fresh10
Ruiz Sales, Inc.8
Sage Fruit Company6
Seneca Foods Corporation9
Southern Specialties5
Stemilt Growers LLC11
Subway8
Sun-Maid Growers of California9
Sysco/FreshPoint5
The Oppenheimer Group7
The Packer7
The Produce News3
USA Pears from Pear Bureau Northwest8
Ventura Foods6
Wawona Frozen Foods4
Wonderful Citrus6
Note: Superscript indicates the number of years the organization has been an award recipient.
2018 Excellence Awardees:
Chris Christian, California Strawberry Commission1
Rich Dachman, Sysco/FreshPoint1
Charlie Eagle, Southern Specialties3
Matt Middleton, Ventura Foods3
Jason Osborn, Wonderful Citrus1
Roger Pepperl, Stemilt Growers LLC2
Garland Perkins, The Oppenheimer Group1
Richard Ruiz, Ruiz Sales, Inc.3
Carolyn Takata, Silgan Containers1
Trish Zecca, Campbell Soup Company2
About Retail Role Models and Supermarket Dietitians of the Year
In addition to the ability to use the widely recognized Fruits & Veggies—More Matters® logo on products and promotions, PBH provides retailers and dietitians with resources, including educational materials and POS such as ad slicks and signs for use in store.
PBH is also pleased to announce the 2018 Supermarket Dietitians of the Year. The Supermarket Dietitian of the Year award recognizes the top supermarket registered dietitians and/or health and wellness staff for their support of Fruits & Veggies—More Matters® and the collective goal of increasing the sale and consumption of fruit and vegetables.
2018 Retail Role Models:
Coborn’s2
K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc.4
Redner’s Markets9
Schnuck Markets, Inc.11
Skogen’s Festival Foods6
SpartanNash4
Wakefern Food Corporation6
Weis Markets, Inc.9
2018 Supermarket Dietitians of the Year:
Julianne Gallo, Inserra Supermarkets1
Mary Lavanway, Hannaford Supermarkets1
Emily Parent, Coborn’s1
Bridget Wojciak, The Kroger Co.1
About the Produce for Better Health Foundation
Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH), a nonprofit 501(c)(3), is the only national organization dedicated to helping consumers live happier, healthy lives by eating more fruits and vegetables, including fresh, frozen, canned, dried and 100% juice, every single day.
Since 1991, PBH has invested decades into developing trended insights on attitudes toward all forms of fruit and vegetable consumption, in addition to campaigns and partnerships with government, food industry stakeholders, health professionals and other thought leaders to collaborate, facilitate and advocate for increased intake. Campaigns include first, the 5-A-Day program, and the Fruits & Veggies—More Matters public health initiative. Fruits & Veggies—More Matters is the nation’s largest public-private, fruit and vegetable nutrition education initiative.
To learn more, visit www.PBHFoundation.org and www.FruitsandVeggiesMoreMatters.org.
