FLORIDA TOMATOES IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Campaign in 15 target markets aims to bring consumers back after bungled salmonella investigation

“This is cool – an art show at the grocery store!”

“When I’m in Ruskin, Florida, over the winter, I pick my own tomatoes and bring them back to Maine with me. Florida tomatoes are the best!”

“I love Florida tomatoes!”

Comments such as these are music to the ears of Florida tomato producers. They come from consumers who visit the Tomato Culinary Art Tour, a mobile art gallery making stops at retail outlets in 15 U.S. markets. The tour is part of a larger campaign sponsored by the Florida Tomato Committee to restore consumer confidence in wholesome Florida tomatoes after last summer’s salmonella outbreak, which was eventually linked to peppers from Mexico.

The tomato art contest and tour was timed to kick off the 2008 growing season and brings a tomato art exhibit and small-scale tomato festival to food retailers, malls and food-service operators. The tour began earlier in the fall with an art contest open to artists in the 15 markets chosen for tour stops. A winner was picked in each city by a panel of industry and art experts, and the show hit the road in a colorful van decorated with reproductions of the winning artwork. Folks stopping by the exhibit are able to vote on their favorite painting, with a winner to be announced before the end of the year.

In addition, anyone can view the art and vote online for their favorite at the tour’s Web site, http://www.floridatomatoart.com/.

As part of the tour, consumers learn about measures Florida tomato growers have instituted to ensure the safety of Florida field-grown tomatoes, including new packing and sanitation practices. The tour also features food sampling, exhibitions, free grocery bags and local publicity for partnering grocery retailers. They receive free 20-second tags on radio spots in each market – a total of 770 radio spots delivered to an estimated 6.2 million listeners. Along the tour, brand representatives visit print and broadcast media in each market, offering tomato cooking ideas and interviews with growers and packers.

In addition to the tour, the Florida Tomato Committee has launched an aggressive campaign incorporating public relations and radio and print advertising. The print advertising effort includes half-page advertisements in Parade magazine - which were to be distributed to 62 newspapers throughout the Eastern United States.

The ads emphasize Florida tomato growers’ longstanding commitment and dedication to providing quality, flavorful tomatoes grown in the rich, fertile soils of Florida.

The 15 target markets are Portland, Maine; Boston; Albany; New York City; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Richmond; Raleigh; Charlotte; Greenville; Atlanta; Jacksonville; Orlando; Tampa; and Miami.

The Florida Tomato Committee has launched an aggressive 15 market media campaign including ad placements in Parade magazine.

“We were especially excited about the placement in the November 16 Parade,” Winters added. “The cover carried the headline, ‘What America Eats,’ and features Brain Williams’ photo. The position of our ad could not be better, appearing within the 'Stay Healthy' column by Dr. Ranit Morshi.”

GRASSROOTS EFFORTS EDUCATE THE PUBLIC

Not all efforts to put Florida tomatoes back on the family dinner table are national in scope. Florida communities like tomato-rich Manatee County are doing their best to undo the damage caused by the salmonella scare. The county’s 17th Annual Farm City Week in November focused on educating the public about stringent food safety and traceback procedures growers follow.

The theme for this year’s Farm City Week was “Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.”

An all-day tour of agriculture operations provided answers to participants’ questions about how tomatoes are produced, packaged and shipped. The tour also covered reclamation efforts made by the phosphate producer Mosiac and diversity in agriculture from local ranching legend Arlin Taylor.

Fritz Stauffacher, safety and compliance director for Palmetto-based West Coast Tomato, explained to the large crowd of tour participants that the operation uses as few chemicals as possible to grow the tomatoes and that it is subject to numerous food safety audits as well as the scrutiny of USDA inspectors.

Larry Moss of 6L’s Packing, a fourth-generation company of growers, packers and shippers, brought the group into a section of a field where grape and Roma tomatoes were growing. He explained some of the measures the company takes as a responsible producer. “If there’s a question about a tomato at the retail level and it’s one of ours, we have a system in place where we can tell you in 24 hours what row that tomato came from in what field,” Moss said.

“We keep water samples for every step of the production process. That’s why we’re all for country of origin labeling. American consumers need to know that product grown in the USA is as good as anywhere in the world. We’re very proud of that,” Moss said.

VARIETY CONTINUES TO EXPAND

Tomato breeders continue to develop new varieties, including those that will resist diseases such as tomato yellow leaf curl virus pictured above.

“As new challenges face the industry, tomato breeders continue to develop new varieties,” said Crystal Snodgrass, a vegetable extension agent in Manatee County in an article published in the Bradenton Herald. “Varieties on the horizon include those with resistance to bacterial spot, tomato yellow leaf curl virus, and those with increased amounts of lycopene, which has been associated with the risk reduction of several cancers.”

Other varieties feature unexpected colors, sizes and shapes. Santa Sweets Inc. announced in November it is expanding into yellow grape tomatoes. And Pompano Beach-based producer Southern Specialties has added several new tomato varieties to its offering, including conventionally grown red grape, red teardrop and yellow teardrop tomatoes as well as organically grown red teardrop, yellow teardrop, red grape and yellow grape tomatoes. The company also plans to add baby heirloom tomatoes to its line of full-size heirloom tomatoes.

LOOKING AHEAD TO A BRIGHT HORIZON

All the efforts that are in place to help bring the tomato back to prominence on the dinner plate seem to be playing a part in a successful rebound of this indispensible food. Consumers seem to have put the salmonella scare behind them and have again embraced something they’ve always loved. However, Reggie Brown of the Florida Tomato Committee is cautiously optimistic. Supplies of tomatoes are shorter than normal this year because of cooler weather and uncertainty about planting after the salmonella outbreak, so it may be too soon to know how much consumer demand has picked.

“I think to some extent the supply shortage has been a significant price driver,” Brown said. “I’m not sure we have any evidence that the consumer is back at the retail level, and the economy will have an impact on meals eaten away from home,” he said. “There is a lot of uncertainty, even though we’re grateful to have a tomato market, which we’ve had for several weeks now. We’re not sure exactly what’s driving that market, but I would suspect the biggest driver has been supply availability. When the supply is more normal, then we’ll see what happens.

Will demand keep up with a larger supply? It’s too early to tell. For now, the industry continues to put Florida tomatoes where they belong - in the spotlight, with the hope that consumers put them where they belong – on their plates.