United Fresh Unveils Best New Product Nominees
More than 25 fresh fruit and vegetable innovations are up for United Fresh Produce Association's 2012 New Product Awards. This year's finalists will compete in five categories for the title of Best New Products at United Fresh 2012, May 1-3 in Dallas.
"These 27 products are forerunners in the effort to bring new approaches, ideas and processes to the fresh fruit and vegetable industry," said John Toner, United's VP of convention & industry relations. "From its very beginnings, the United show has been the undisputed home of innovation for the produce industry, and these awards continue to showcase the best and brightest minds in the produce business."
United Fresh president and CEO Tom Stenzel added, "The development and display of the latest in innovation from our industry is a vital part of the mission of every United trade show. Our industry's success is built upon the foresight and creativity of its member companies in bringing new products to market."
Products will be on display in the Dallas Convention in the lobby of Hall A adjacent to the United Fresh Show Floor, where they will be judged by all attendees from United, FMI and AMI throughout the show. Winners will be determined by total votes received as of 5 p.m. on May 2, and will be announced at the opening of the show floor on May 3 at 10 a.m.
The 2012 New Product Award finalists are:
Best New Packaging
Fruit Pop Pouches, Maxwell Chase Technologies, LLC
Garden Highway Salad Essentials Salad Toppers, Renaissance Food Group
Live Gourmet Squircle Clamshell and Harness Style Shipping Carton, Hollandia Produce LLC/Live Gourmet
Naturipe EarthCycle Packaging for Organic Berries, Naturipe Farms, LLC
Rock Garden Breathable Herb Bag, Rock Garden
Safe-T-Fresh Grab and Go Cups, Inline Plastics Corp
SUNSET Fresh Tomato Soup Kit, Mastronardi Produce
Best New Food Safety Solution
FlashCheck Real-time Bacterial Enzyme Detection Kit, DeltaTRAK Inc.
Freshness Management with the Intelleflex CMR-6100 Cellular Reader and Intelleflex ZEST Data Services, Intelleflex
PTI Lite, RedLine Solutions Inc.
The HydroDose-High Dilution Dosing System, BioSafe Systems
Best New Packing/Processing Equipment
Bosch Pack 301 IN Inverted Horizontal Flow Wrapper, Bosch Packaging Technology Inc
ECM-200 Slicer with Exit Conveyor, Nichimo
High speed counting and packing device, Abracad Technoworks BV
MCT 25 OS "Onion Slicer", Maxwell Chase Technologies, LLC
NicePack, BrimaPack
Best New Fruit Product
Crunch Pak Dipperz, Crunch Pak
Fresh Fruit Parfaits, Ready Pac Foods
Naturipe Cold Processed Dried Blueberries, Strawberries and Cherries, Naturipe Farms, LLC
Welch's New Grape Bag - Picnic Pack, C.H. Robinson
Yonanas, Dole Food Co.
Best New Vegetable Product
Aurora Bites mini peppers, Pure Hot House Foods, Inc.
Delano, Mastronardi Produce
Farmhouse Heritage Beefsteak Tomato, JemD Farms
Fresh Express Organic Baby Sweet Lettuce and Organic 50/50 Mix, Chiquita
Gourmet In-Store Salad Kits, Tiffany Gate Fine Foods
The Culinary Garden Unique Salads & Coleslaws, Freshway Foods