More than one-third of consumers are willing to pay a premium, in upwards of 30% more, for food with a safety certification label, according to Michigan State University’s Food Safety Certification: A Study of Food Safety in the U.S. Supply Chain report. Consumers are not only quite attuned to food safety issues, but they also have significantly changed their shopping habits because of them.

Nearly half of the consumers surveyed reported a change in shopping patterns due to food safety concerns. Also noteworthy is that the research subjects cited that higher price and brand name are not direct signs of safer food. From the food industry side, while third-party certification is valued, a higher value is placed on traceability.

When it comes to food safety and traceability, PMA has invested considerable resources into these important areas – through training programs and symposia, industry education, government and regulatory outreach/interaction, and more. In fact, our Chief Science Officer Dr. Bob Whitaker just discussed all things food safety and traceability that will be taking place during Fresh Summit 2010 in a recent post on his audio blog.

Of particular interest to attendees will be the Fresh Summit Food Safety Solution Center and its focus on educational exhibits, live demonstrations and videos related to food safety technology in the areas of packaging, traceability, processing equipment, product testing, water purification, and more. If you’re planning to come to Orlando, the last day to register in advance for Fresh Summit is tomorrow, October 1. Visit the PMA website for more details.

Yesterday, PMA co-signed this letter to syndicated television host Dr. Mehmet Oz to correct what we considered to be especially egregious misinformation about pesticide residues on fresh produce in a Dr. Oz Show segment that aired last Friday. The letter was organized by our colleagues at the Alliance for Food and Farming and co-signed by the United Fresh Produce Association and Western Growers.

It’s very frustrating that Dirty Dozen-type reports such as this one continue to erode consumer confidence in – and sales of – the foods that our industry works so hard to grow and sell. According to Hartman Group research funded by PMA, 29 percent of consumers reported in 2010 that they don’t buy more produce because of pesticide concerns, which is up from 18 percent in 2008.

A few months ago here on Field to Fork, we talked about PMA’s support for a new campaign from the Alliance for Food and Farming that is designed to help our industry counter these erroneous claims, and set the record straight about the safety of fresh produce. This effort is part of our ongoing mission to identify and respond to emerging issues and effectively avoid or minimize their impact on our members’ businesses. We’ve been integrally involved in the development of this campaign from inception, including financially assisting with the campaign’s consumer Web site.

We’ll also be highlighting this campaign during a workshop at Fresh Summit in October. To learn more about the Fresh Summit education program, visit the event Web site and look at the schedule. If you’re planning to come to Orlando, the last day to register in advance is October 1.

While a new report Technomic finds that 28 percent of consumers think convenience stores do well at offering healthy options, 52 percent would like to see more healthy food items there, and 47 percent would like to see a wider variety of healthy beverages. Other findings from the study include:

• Nearly two-thirds of consumers (63 percent) say they visit a convenience store at least once a week, but only about half (53 percent) purchase food or a beverage.
• Convenience stores’ strongest competitors for food purchases are fast-food restaurants. Nearly half of consumers (49 percent) said fast-food restaurants were their alternative for breakfast, 47 percent for lunch, and 32 percent for dinner.
• Consumers found made-to-order offerings highly appealing, especially sandwiches (57 percent), salads (50 percent), beverages (48 percent) and hot foods (46 percent).

As the produce industry continues to address the issue of access to fruits and vegetables, convenience stores represent a distribution channel that may offer additional sales growth. Other retail sectors are already expanding their fresh food assortments; earlier this year drugstore chains Walgreens and CVS announced plans to begin offering fresh salads and fruit to customers.

We will be addressing produce access and consumer behavior issues during separate workshops at Fresh Summit in a couple of weeks. For a complete listing of the event’s education program, visit the Fresh Summit website and look at the schedule. If you’re planning to join us, remember that the last day to register in advance is October 1.

Recently the USDA asked for comments on how payment terms affect the PACA trust. The trust, as you know, puts produce marketers at the front of the payment line in the event of a buyer’s default, as in bankruptcy. PMA, like many of you, told USDA that PACA and the trust are essential tools for our industry. We said that post-default payment terms do not invalidate the seller’s rights under the trust.

That’s important in and of itself. But it’s also important that we are alert to any threats to the protections programs like PACA affords our industry. Some of the proposed changes would have made it more difficult for companies to use the trust.

We’re watching for those things and will continue to alert you so that you can respond. And you can be confident that we’ll respond as well to be sure programs like PACA are robust and fill the need they were created to fill.

How many times have you wanted to throw your hands up and say: Will they ever get produce safety messages right? There’s a lot of misinformation for consumers out there, but the Partnership for Food Safety Education is riding to the rescue with Home Food Safety Mythbusters. September is food safety month, and the Partnership is using that focus to get accurate information out to consumer influencers – from retailers to health educators to food safety professionals. One of the mythbusters involves consumer handling of fresh produce. Here’s a look at it.

PMA supports the Partnership because it provides credible, science-based, consumer-tested food safety education, including produce resources. This mythbuster item is one message in the organization’s campaign on produce safety. The tools and materials from the Partnership are free for you to use. You can download them, put your logo on them, and use them in a variety of ways – with employees, with customers, at health or country fairs, school tours, civic groups, and more. You’re committed to food safety at your company, and now you can show that commitment to consumers. Show you care.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the National Food Policy Conference in Washington, DC, organized by the Consumer Federation of America and Grocery Manufacturers Association. This year, the conference focused on child nutrition and supplemental nutrition programs. Kicking off the event was White House chef and senior policy advisor of health food initiatives Sam Kass. He provided on overview of the “Let’s Move” campaign, along with an update on the People’s Garden and other programs.

During a question-and-answer session, he was asked about how to talk to parents about nutrition and healthful food choices. I found his response interesting. He said that a family’s relationship to food is a very personal thing due to cultural and personal tastes; taking a “good” food versus “bad” approach doesn’t work because of the inferred judgment on an individual’s choices. If they choose a “bad” food, does that make them a “bad” person? Instead, Kass recommended getting kids engaged and energized because they have the power to change choices and lifestyles. He advised that food marketers tap into the influence kids have in asking for foods from their parents.

Other topics discussed included the Supplemental Nutrition Access Program (SNAP – previously known as the food stamps program) and how the caseload has increased on this entitlement program during the past three years in correlation with the unemployment rate.

On the legislative front, Representative Marcia Fudge (11th – Ohio) shared that she will soon introduce the Fit for L.I.F.E. Act of 2010. This bill seeks to improve children’s health through a number of programs (which has implications for the produce industry). I had a chance to talk briefly to her staff after the Congresswoman’s presentation and they told me that the bill will create a grant program to promote partnerships between local governments and local convenience stores near schools to increase fruit and vegetable offerings. And, there’s a component that will create mobile farmers markets through purchasing or rehabilitating old school buses to transport fresh produce from local farms to schools and convenience stores. We’ll keep an eye on this bill as it moves forward.

In this post’s headline, I said that everyone has a role to play. As a member of the produce industry, your voice needs to be heard to get the child nutrition reauthorization bill passed. Child nutrition programs are set to expire on September 30. Get involved and visit the PMA Advocacy Action Center to send a message to the House of Representatives to help get this important bill passed. Do it now, as the House may be voting today or Friday!

According to a Nielsen study, some 24 percent of North American consumers actively buy organic products, while organic purchases rank higher in other parts of the globe (being most popular in Asia Pacific).

Asia Pacific shoppers lead the world in saying they buy organic because of the health and nutrition factors, while consumers in the Middle East/Africa/Pakistan region say they opt for organics as they taste better. But North American consumers lead the way on virtually every other criteria such as avoiding toxins, caring for the environment, keeping GMOs out of their diet, encouraging small farms, acting on principle, and rejecting current farming techniques.

When it comes to the reasons why North American consumers buy organic products, environmental and social considerations top the list. Seventy-one percent said they buy to avoid toxins, while 59 percent purchase to promote environmentally-friendly organic farms. Fifty-eight percent they buy organic to help small farmers and interestingly 23 percent said they purchase organic as a “vote against modern farming methods.”

Relative to organics, PMA’s own consumer research found that 5 percent of survey respondents said they were purchasing less organic produce to lower their costs at the store. Our study also discovered that when it comes to organic produce and local produce, 19 percent of respondents said it was more important to buy organic fruits and vegetables than local; yet 75 percent said it was more important to buy local produce than organic.

To learn more about PMA’s studies, visit the consumer research section of the PMA website. This area highlights a small snapshot of the various consumer research studies – which are free to PMA members – we have conducted over the years.

When is a farmers market not a farmers market? That’s a tough question. At the recent USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee meeting, this topic arose. We’ve all seen the question about the definition of local, but this was a new one for me and raised a lot of questions.

For some folks, a farmers market should be products grown on that farm, or maybe on surrounding farms. That would mean that in the United States, you shouldn’t see any bananas at a farmers market. But then, a savvy marketer may want to have many items to sell so customers can have a one-stop produce shopping experience. For some, adding apple cider doughnuts, pies, and a petting zoo is more an entertainment destination, not part of a farmers market. For others, that’s part of the attraction, and having entertainment or other things to sell doesn’t diminish the produce sold there.

One of the members of the committee noted that oversaturation of farmers markets can hurt sales. Another member raised the issue of what a farmers market is. Some states certify their farmers markets; others don’t. One thing is clear – farmers markets, whatever they are, are an important outlet.

The big question is: Does it matter? I’ve mentioned before that we start seeing “local” tomatoes at roadside stands in May. I know they’re not local, but most consumers don’t. Someone on the committee mentioned strawberries that were for sale, and when he looked in the back and saw a national berry brand box, he realized the berries weren’t local. And I’m reminded of the consumer who called PMA years ago to talk about a farmers market in Minnesota. She said she only shopped there because they had the best local bananas.

The question about the identity of a farmers market remains: Does it matter? One market offers several produce it grows, and that’s it. Another market offers products from the farm and supplements from another nearby grower who grows other items. That nearby grower offers her items and others from the first grower. How different is it, then, for any of the marketers to get other items from a wholesaler to round out their offerings? And then the next question is: What about the retailer who sets up a farm market display and has local product in addition to the full complement of world-sourced fresh produce? Is one of these markets “more” local than another? Is one more genuinely a farmers market? Is it less genuinely a farmers market if it offers pony rides or jams and jellies produced somewhere beyond the farm?

Does it matter as long as there is full disclosure and marketers are not misleading consumers about where the produce comes from, letting the consumer decide? Is the goal is just selling more fresh produce, however we can do it – letting marketers display their prowess from the corner stand to the corner office? What do you think?

According to NPD’s Before the Store report, 94 percent of U.S. households prepare a written shopping list before they head out to the store and 72 percent never or only occasionally deviate from their planned purchases. When it comes to putting items into the cart or basket that didn’t make the list, the most often mentioned reasons were “saw it on promotion” (80 percent), “forgot to put it on the list” (67 percent), and “looked like a good meal or snack solution” (37 percent).

In my household, those are also the main reasons for our unplanned purchases – though with an almost one-year old at home, forgetting to put an item on the list likely trends higher. Though I will admit for fruits and vegetables, the reason for those impulse buys would be due to in-store promotion/sales.

For us, another factor that increases our impulse sales is being able to talk to store personnel who know how to use the products they sell. At Fresh Summit in Orlando, PMA is taking a look at the importance of this during the “From the Front Lines: How Produce Managers Connect with the Supply Chain” workshop. This session will explore trends ranging from packaging to the economy to locally grown, with retail expert Harold Lloyd leading a panel of produce managers to examine the challenges and best practices of working together with suppliers to best serve consumers.

If you’re coming to Fresh Summit, this session is a valuable opportunity to learn what’s happening, ask questions, and discover how to sell more produce by better connecting with your supply chain partners and consumers. For a complete listing of the event’s education program, visit the Fresh Summit website and look at the schedule. If you’re planning to join us, remember that the last day to register in advance is October 1.

In case you missed it, we want to call your attention to a free online tool to promote your local fruit and vegetable activities to consumers in your area. This could be anything – a u-pick operation, store tours, fall festival, a stand at a health or county fair – whatever. Visitors use the interactive tool by simply entering in their zip code to view a list of fruit and veggie events and activities happening near them. No event is too small or too large to be included.

This was launched in September (it is Fruits & Veggies-More Matters month) by the Produce for Better Health Foundation as part of its consumer website.

You can easily upload information on your fruit and veggie related activities, promotions, contests and events. Visit the Fruit & Veggie Happenings page today to find events in your area and populate this new page with your own fruit and veggie news, events, and activities.