Making sure all forms count

Above, Mark Munger and Connie Fisher talk at the PBH March 18 board meeting in San Francisco.

One of the "take-away" (when did that nugget enter our lingo, by the way?) messages from the San Francisco PBH board meeting is that the foundation and the Fruits & Veggies - More Matters national partnership will try to more effectively communicate that "all forms of fruits and vegetables count." Whether the 5 a Day message or More Matters, there are product promotable criteria for using the logo, or brand if you will.

Connie Fisher, senior v.p. of PBH, provided a table to me that explains how these "product promotable criteria" have changed somewhat with the new More Matters campaign. In my reading, some of these changes - greater allowances for added sugar, for example - may help to more easily promote canned and frozen fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, some criteria are apparently stricter. Here is the table, exactly as Connie emailed it to me.

With new members of the board such as Sara Rose of the Bush Brothers & Company (of bean fame - and yes beans are vegetables) the 120-member PBH board of trustees represents a diverse mix of advocates that will want to deliver on the message to consumers that all forms do indeed count. My hope is that the energy to communicate the needed message that "all forms count" doesn't end up diminishing the belief many consumers have in the primacy of fresh produce.