Swardlick Marketing Group Challenges Produce Industry to Recognize and Promote the Health Benefits of Colorful Frozen Fruits and Vegetables…and the PBH’s More Matters Message

An experienced marketer of fresh and frozen produce, who believes strongly in health-and-wellness-based marketing strategies for fruits ad veggies, John Sauvé has been an outspoken and active promoter of frozen fruits and vegetables, citing their colorful phytonutrient-based health properties, convenience, and overall value. Recently, Tom Karst, National Editor of the industry journal The Packer, “dissed” frozen fruits and veggies as second rate when compared to fresh. John Sauvé was quick to rise to their defense.

From an Op-Ed piece published in The Packer, Dec. 15, 2008
By John Sauvé, Managing Partner, Food & Nutrition
Swardlick Marketing Group
Creators of 5 A Day The Color Way

In Defense of Frozen Fruits and Veggies
In a recent Fresh Talk blog item, National Editor Tom Karst reported on a Mintel forecast that frozen fruits and vegetables were 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, all around the world.

"Frozen is different than fresh, yes, but not second rate."

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. We need fruits and vegetables in as many colors and forms
as possible.