Positive articles on fruits/vegetables

[Guest guest]

Good morning,

Produce is getting a better rap in the popular press. Yesterday on the

science website I read regularly the weekly medicine columnist raved Japan

for promoting local, organic farm production in spite of being the most

heavily urbanized country in the world.

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060905_bad_farming.html

 

This morning our local paper had a syndicated article on how disney is

putting its cartoon characters on produce to attract kids to it. The

article was buried in the back of the Business section. Couldn't find the

article anywhere else, here is the brief text from it.

 

LOS ANGELES - Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob and the Tasmanian Devil are coming to

a produce aisle near you.

The cartoon characters are popping up on fruit and vegetable packaging

across the country as growers strike licensing deals with entertainment

companies hungry to cultivate positive images among health-conscious parents

and kids. Walt Disney Co., with its overwhelming cartoon capital and

cultural clout, is the most significant entry in the produce business.

The entertainment giant is licensing characters to Indianapolis-based

produce distributor Imagination Farms LLC, which has deals with 15 large

growers across the country to provide fruits and vegetables for the Disney

Garden brand.

''We're doing it predominantly because it is the right thing to do, but

secondarily because it is the right business to be in,'' said Harry Dollman,

head of food products licensing for Disney.

''Concerns about the right nutrition for kids is not a fad; it's not

something that will be overtaken by another trend,'' he said.

Neither Disney nor Imagination Farms would discuss terms of the deal.

Imagination Farms started shipping the produce in May and currently has more

than 30 different Disney Garden items in Albertsons and other supermarket

chains, said Matthew Caito, who heads the distributor.

Caito plans to have 100 different produce items on supermarket shelves

by January and another 100 by the end of 2007.

''We want to be able to supply an entire produce department with Disney

Garden products,'' he said.

Already available are peaches with Daisy Duck and Goofy stickers, and

table grapes packaged in Mickey and Minnie Mouse boxes. Organic apples with

Winnie the Pooh - the mascot for Disney Garden organic selections - are due

in September.

 

Nick