Page 97 - January_2019

‘What we found is that growers are aligned with consumers, but not necessarily packers.’ — Karina Gallardo, Washington State University
MICROSESSIONS HELP ATTENDEES DIVE DEEP ON TRENDING TOPICS
The ever-popular Educational Microses- sions offered participants the opportunity to take a closer look at ve contemporary industry topics. New this year was an audio headphone system that allowed attendees to clearly hear the speaker above the enthu- siastic din of the exhibit oor.
Understanding demand along the supply for new fruit cultivars. Kicking off the series of educational micro sessions, which took place in conjunction with the trade fair at the New York Produce Show and Conference, two university professors, Karina Gallardo and Brad Rickard, spoke about research related to understanding demand along the supply chain for new fruit cultivars. The aim is to improve breeding programs’ ef ciency by helping them better understand market demands. Gallardo, an associate professor extension specialist at Washington State University, discussed growers’, packers’ and consumers’ willingness to pay for improved characteristics of apples and sweet cherries. “What we found is that growers are aligned with consumers, but not necessarily packers,” she said. Rickard, an associate professor at Cornell University, said the research will be expanded to study demand across the supply chain for table grape traits, with buyers to be surveyed on the trade show oor.
In Intelligent Packaging – A New Tool for Quality and Safety Management in the Fresh Produce Supply Chain, Paul Takh- istov, associate professor, food engineering, Department of Food Science, Rutgers University, pointed to food supply complex- ities and the many points of disruption and contamination – farms, processing sites, packers, retail food stores and outlets – as compromising food safety. He identi ed post-harvest delivery and the time before processing as two major loss points and highlighted the importance of temperature control. The move from HACCP to HARPC (hazard analysis and risk-based preventative controls) shifts emphasis toward preven- tion, with xed control points to indicate problem spots in the supply chain. Takhistov
BY MINDY HERMANN AND EDWARD VERNON
Lisa Helfman of Brighter Bites (left) and UConn professor John Bovay (right) talk during their microsessions.
noted a need for economically viable and environmentally friendly active packaging, intelligent packaging, and total packaging systems that physically protect the product while extending shelf life and freshness.
Improving Health Through Brighter Bites, presented by co-founders Lisa Helfman and Shreela Sharma, introduced attendees to Brighter Bites, a Texas-based non-pro t dedicated to creating communi- ties of health through fresh food. Its formula that pairs partnerships in produce distribu- tion with nutrition education at home and school and a fun food experience through recipe tasting brings fresh produce into targeted schools that have a high percentage of free/reduced lunches. Founded in 2012 with one school, Brighter Bites now serves 125 sites reaching 120,000 individuals with 50 servings of fresh produce – approx- imately two extra servings per person per day – weekly. Dr. Sharma presented 2014-15 data validating positive behavior change: Nearly all served parents in Houston say they are eating more produce, with three-quarters maintaining a higher level of intake after the end of the Brighter Bites season. Families signi cantly increased consumption of fruits and vegetables as snack and decreased intake of added sugars.
Economics of Food Waste: Measure- ment, Trends, and Drivers. John Bovay, assistant professor and extension economist, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut, ques- tioned popular assumptions about food waste because of inconsistent de nitions of, and estimation methodology for, food
waste, noting the need for consideration of a uniform de nition of food, calculation protocols regarding inedible, food safety, and distinction between upstream food loss and downstream food waste. Food waste by consumers has a higher valuation because retail pricing is higher than farm prices; furthermore, growers and producers are reducing food waste while consumer food waste is going up. Other issues include input costs to produce food that goes uneaten, environmental damage from methane emis- sions during decomposition, and food inse- curity. At retail, uncertainty about demand, overstocking and large displays can increase waste. Bovay argued that while food waste reduction is an ef cient way to address hunger, taxes and other policies can make food waste reduction more costly.
Advertising in the new age: The case study of sweet onions. Ben Campbell, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, used a case study of sweet onions to evaluate which adver- tising methods are being remembered by consumers, while also attempting to better understand how these methods impact purchasing. In today’s world, he explained, consumers can access information about produce through a multitude of ways, and it is essential to understand how consumers of various generations are getting that informa- tion. “Younger consumers are more likely to be online and shop more frequently at non-retail outlets, while older people tend to get information through more traditional mediums,” he said.
PRODUCE BUSINESS / JANUARY 2019 NYPS13