Produce / Floral

Speaking of energy bars, Clif Bar & Co., the Berkeley, Calif.-based maker of all-natural and organic energy bars, has now jumped into a related arena with CLIF Quench, a bottled clear sport drink made with only all-natural and organic ingredients.

Mott’s, the nation’s leading producer of branded apple sauce and apple juice, is showing its support for Susan G. Komen for the Cure with “Pink to the Core” limited-edition Mott’s Plus Apple Sauce and Mott’s Healthy Harvest Apple Sauce, which will be available on store shelves through October. In connection with the promotion, the well-known brand has pledged to donate $300,000 to the organization, the world’s largest grass-roots network of breast cancer survivors and activists.

With more than 25 local growers signed on to supply St. Louis-based Schnucks Markets, Inc. with farm-fresh produce, the regional retailer is gearing up for a major homegrown produce push that will showcase products from some of the best farms in the Midwest.

Beech-Nut, a Latham, N.Y.-based subsidiary of Switzerland’s Hero Group, has expanded its Stage 3 jarred infant food offering with a new product line. All natural and with added vitamins and minerals, like all Beech-Nut products, Homestyle Stage 3 Fruits are specially made with more texture for a baby’s physical developmental changes from about eight months and up.

A study of 8,000 people ages 2 to 85 has found that folic acid — or vitamin B9 — may help reduce allergies and asthma, reports Medical News Today.

It’s the little things — like a shake or two of cinnamon or oregano — say the herbs and spices experts at McCormick & Company, Inc. that can put you on the path to a healthier diet.

Ocean Spray has expanded its line of juices to include the popular pomegranate. The Lakeville-Middleboro, Mass.-based company, an international cooperative owned by more than 600 cranberry growers, is incorporating the antioxidant-rich fruit into a number of new products, and now features such varieties as Cranberry & Pomegranate, Lite Cranberry Pomegranate, Diet Cranberry Pomegranate, and a Ruby Pomegranate Grapefruit drink. A 64-ounce bottle retails for a suggested $3.59.

Grocery stores have become hunting grounds for healthful, functional foods and beverages that offer distinct wellness advantages beyond basic nutrition, and this has boosted sales of such products by 6 percent to almost $31 billion in 2008, according to a new study by market research publisher Packaged Facts.