“I'll be concentrating on seafood and citrus in January and February,” she said.

“Last month, during a super sale [in seafood], I made one of my favorite salmon recipes and demoed it myself, talking about its health benefits.”

Nielsen also goes farther afield to educate shoppers, with a regular segment on local radio.

United reaches out, too, with its programs. For example, one involves some units helping Girl Scouts earn nutrition badges, according to Alicia Brown, United's health/wellness marketing manager. The chain also gets involved in weight management programs.

“We'll continue to focus on offering more nutritious alternatives in our prepared-foods areas, maximize our relationships with community groups, and continue to pursue new promotional avenues,” Brown said.

Back in Pennsylvania, Giant of Carlisle is continuing its micro-nutrient-labeling program, which it adopted a little over a year ago in conjunction with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

“Giant has received positive feedback about the on-pack nutrition labeling program, as customers have reported they like having nutritional information on beef packages,” said Shelley Bradway, NCBA marketing manager.
— Roseanne Harper

INITIATIVE 5:
Prepare for Enhanced Traceability

PRODUCE BRAND owners passed a key deadline of the Produce Traceability Initiative in the third quarter of 2009, and began providing Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN) and corresponding data to their buyers.

PTI is still a voluntary industry initiative, led by the Produce Marketing Association, the United Fresh Produce Association and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association. And, much of the burden for compliance has been on the supplier side of the produce industry. But, to realize PTI's vision of focused, quickly executed product traceback and recalls, retailers must be prepared to process and store this information as well.

Several leading retailers have already endorsed the project, including Wale-Mart, Kroger, Supervalu and Safeway. But, as participants noted during a panel discussion at PMA's Fresh Summit conference in October, there's still a lot of foot-dragging throughout the supply chain.

All parties involved should note that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been taking steps to reform the nation's food safety system, and many retailers regard enhanced traceability systems as a key to restoring consumer confidence in the food supply.

“I've had to sell this to our ownership, and they're very supportive, because this is not just a produce project — it's a perishables project,” Mike O'Brien, vice president of produce and floral for Schnuck Markets, said during the PMA panel. “For us retailers, this isn't going to end with produce, this will also be moving into our deli, seafood and meat operations. We're building a template that will be used in all of these different areas.”

The FDA is still seeking input on the issue, but it appears very likely that new regulations, requiring electronic traceability for produce and other perishables, will be enacted in the near term. Attending last week's meeting of FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture food safety officials in Washington, Kathy Means, PMA's vice president of government relations and public affairs said that “when we look at the questions [federal officials] are asking we can see what they're looking toward. They're looking for unique identifiers, they're looking for programs that include all the links in the supply chain.”
— Matthew Enis