IRVINE, CA -- "We have been having a lot of fun with this year's campaign. It is the most integrated approach we have taken to marketing," said Jan DeLyser, vice president of marketing for the California Avocado Commission, here. The common theme running through all the commission's marketing programs this year, including consumer advertising, public relations, and retail and foodservice programs, is "Irresistible California Avocados." Components of the integrated campaign include an on-line consumer sweepstakes challenge, outdoor advertising, radio consumer advertising with retail tags

The Canadian Produce Marketing Assiociation announced that the new version of its food guide, Health Canada, has placed vegetables and fruits on the higher tier of the rainbow and has emphasized their significant place in a healthy diet. Building on this, CPMA and its health partners, the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society, will be launching the 2007 5 to10 A Day campaign titled "My Fruit & Veggies." The campaign will include billboards in the Toronto area as well as brochures, posters and TV public- service announcements beginning in March. "My Fruit & Veggies

VIENNA, VA -- The National Apple Month program has announced the winners of the fall 2006 National Apple Month retail and military display contests, bringing the apple industry's fall generic apple promotion to a close. The annual contest, which kick-starts the domestic apple industry's marketing season, provided retailers and the apple industry with increased sales and gave consumers easy access to great-tasting, healthy apples. "The high-quality apples available nationwide from the 2006 harvest, combined with the creativity of produce managers in creating the displays, made this year's

It might be at least another year before the produce industry sees big gains in the use of radio frequency identification, according to two industry executives closely in tune with the situation. Bob Spence, vice president of business development for Pacific Tomato Growers Inc. in Wimauma, FL, is chairman of the Produce Marketing Association's RFID Issues Committee. Both he and PMA's RFID expert Gary Fleming agreed that 2007 appears to be a year with more testing and evaluation of the technology rather than implemention even by the industry's most progressive companies. In separate interviews

SANTA CLARA, CA -- A couple of Silicon Valley-based high-tech companies are developing diagnostic tools for the purpose of detecting deadly pathogens in food supplies. NanoSensors Inc., a nanotechnology development company based here, is licensing nanoporous silicon-based biosensor technology through Michigan State University and a university in South Korea to develop food-safety analysis systems. In addition to silicon-based filters, NanoSensors is also using carbon nanotube technology to detect and isolate biologically based pathogens. Carbon nanotubes are cylindrical carbon molecules with

BASILICATA, ITALY -- Produce, food and wine distributors, importers, and buyers from around the world toured production facilities and farms throughout the Basilicata region of Italy Jan. 16-20. Members of the group of approximately 25 people came from nearly every corner of the world, such as France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Abu Dhabi, the United States and Russia, and included national officials from some of the countries and several journalists. The workshop and mission were a collaborative effort stemming from the 2004 formation of the Institute of International Commerce for the Region