Equal time - in defense of eating frozen fruits and vegetables

Here is the column from John Suave in response to my earlier blog post "Frozen rising." As it appears on the opinion page of the Dec. 15 issue of The Packer.


In defense of eating frozen fruits and vegetables
John Sauve, Swardlick Marketing Group
In a recent Fresh Talk (www.freshtalk.blogspot.com) blog item, National Editor Tom Karst reported on a Mintel forecast that frozen fruits and vegetables are likely to experience a significant increase in consumption over the next few years.
Good news for the produce industry... and the health of Americans.
However, to that report Tom added the following comment: "Frozen may have its advantages, but it has one clear disadvantage -- it is a second-rate product compared with fresh. Consumers will always prefer fresh over frozen, no matter how many new ‘innovative freezing technologies' are rolled out. End of discussion."
End of discussion?
I hope not, Tom. Unless of course you don't want anyone to offer a slightly different perspective than yours about frozen fruits and veggies being second rate to fresh.
Frozen is different than fresh, yes, but not second rate. And by the way, the produce industry (including the growers, farmers, processors, suppliers, The Packer, etc.) can't afford to denigrate any form of its magnificent products that consumers need to triple in consumption to reach their recommended daily dose of our beautiful array of colors.
Fresh, frozen, canned and dried all can and must play a valuable role in the healthy lifestyles and needs of people.
Now, in support of frozen, I won't say anything that might imply frozen superiority versus fresh -- even relative to the finding that frozen could possibly be more nutritious given the ongoing oxidation of fresh in the produce department (oops, that one slipped out!).
And I certainly don't want to mention value in these tough economic times (slipped again).
In whatever healthy form they take, all produce, fruits, veggies, nuts and legumes are in the "good stuff" family. And we all need to consume more. It's a universal truth.
The produce industry and the government have the responsibility to figure out how to get consumers to eat more fruits and veggies, for both their own personal health and for the economic health of our country by helping to reduce the escalating cost of medical coverage.
We've all read those statistics.
Interestingly, we don't need to look far to find another food group working on a similar issue.
Our friends in the dairy industry are finally plowing millions into advertising and promotion of the health benefits of milk -- something they overlooked for quite a few years while building awareness with their mustaches.
They learned the hard way that celebrity-endorsed milk mustaches didn't move much more of their product. Now they have rediscovered and reinvented their health story, promoting milk as a nutrient-rich food that provides a healthy dose of nine essential nutrients.
Good for them. They're doing a nice job delivering a great health message, and it's going to work.
As part of the new Fruits & Veggies -- More Matters communication strategy, The Produce for Better Health Foundation is now pushing (as much as they can with their limited budget) that "all forms count" in the quest to help consumers reach their daily fruits and vegetables goal.
All forms. So why would we even imply that frozen is second rate, in any fashion? This industry has a big job and a big responsibility to move everyone to eat more fruits and veggies, in as many ways and forms as makes sense for them to do so.
Tom, I know you probably meant for someone to react to your "second rate and end of discussion" commentary. You knew someone would come to the defense of frozen fruit and veggies. I also know that I do not really need to list all the great attributes and benefits of our naturally colored fruits and veggies, in their frozen, protected, convenient and healthy state.
Rather, I do need to re-emphasize the responsibility and the challenge the produce industry faces to figure out how to get people to buy more and eat more fruits and veggies.
Fruits and veggies naturally own the healthiest segment of MyPyramid. We're allowing others to take that positioning away from us in the supermarket -- like the pharmacy section, which seems to own the words "Health & Wellness."
Shouldn't those words be in the produce department?
Implying anything is second rate about our entire remarkably healthy and colorful product line doesn't help the cause.
We need Fruits & Veggies -- More Matters in as many cool colors and forms as possible.
John Sauve is managing partner of the food and nutrition division at the Swardlick Marketing Group, Portland, Maine, which represents clients that promote fresh and frozen produce. E-mail jsauve@swardlick.com.