During the past several years, packaging has played a growing role in produce category innovation. Packaging manufacturers are working to help with a variety of key issues facing the produce industry today—such as food safety, traceability, sustainability or convenience—and PMA’s annual Impact Award was launched two years ago to honor those suppliers that lead the field with new innovations.

This year’s winners were:

• environment/sustainability: Earthbound Farm for Earthbound Farm Clamshell Packages: 5 oz., 11 oz., 1 lb., & 2 lb.

• food safety/traceability: Yottamark Inc. for MICROBAKER Traceable Labels

• functionality/technology: Clear Lam Packaging, Inc. & Taylor Farms, Inc. for Taylor Fresh Bag Plus

• marketing design: The Oppenheimer Group & ZESPRI for Kiwi Snack Pack

• marketing messaging/content: Stemilt Growers, Inc. for Fresh, Flavorful & Family-Farmed Cherry Display Bin

• supply chain efficiencies: IFCO Systems for Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs)

It’s the second full day of the Fresh Summit’s expo, and the show floor–which takes up most of the Anaheim convention center–has been absolutely packed both days. I’ve heard rumors that this show has enjoyed record turnout. Of course, any increase in attendance could be partly due to the show’s location in California, where a whole lot of U.S. growers are based. But, considering how many trade shows have been suffering during the past couple of years, the traffic here has been great to see.

Late Update: Julia Stewart at PMA told me this morning that this year’s show had more than 19,000 attendees from 50 different countries. The expo covered 670,000 square feet. The attendance sets a new record for the show, which is great for the association, since the show is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

In addition to talking trends and giving a thorough overview of business conditions affecting his audience, PMA President Bryan Silbermann always brings up a couple of thought-provoking ideas during his annual State of the Industry addresses. This year, something that stood out for me was a comment he made about a book published in 1982. Megatrends, by John Naisbitt.

“Naisbitt described how, in a “high tech” world increasingly driven by technology, people would be drawn more and more to “high touch” products and services,” Silbermann said. “Look around at so many signs of that – and remember that we, in the fresh fruit and veg as well as floral business, are surely as “high touch” as one can get. Because we offer the connection to nature, to the fruits of the land, to a simpler time, to a sustenance far closer to a farm than to a factory.”

I’ve never read Naisbitt, but I agree with what Silbermann is getting at. People are social creatures, and they’ll always crave contact with other people. And, it doesn’t take much thinking to find a few ways that technology has really struck out in that regard. Is there anyone who really enjoys navigating their way through a bunch of computerized phone trees when they call their cable company or their bank? As much as it has improved productivity and profits, technology can be very dehumanizing.

But I don’t think the produce industry is off the hook here, simply because they grow unprocessed food. Fruits and vegetables themselves aren’t “high touch.” Farmer’s Markets becoming more popular because meeting and talking with a farmer in person is a “high touch” experience. It’s person to person. A generic tomato purchased in a supermarket doesn’t have that personality.

Fortunately for the produce industry, I think that part of the answer to this issue is something that Silbermann and PMA have been harping on for at least two years. More and more people do want to know a story behind their food. And it’s not that they always need a story about a third generation family tilling the land and remaining independent. Most people in the U.S. do not understand how their food gets from the farm to their supermarket. A growing number of them are suspicious about the process, and national foodborne illness outbreaks and contamination scares, whether they’ve been caused by produce, meat, seafood or pet food, have not helped this situation, to say the least. Most of these people just want more transparency.

Dole debuted a reinvention of its packaged salad lineup yesterday, and the concept behind this launch is really kind of cool. The line of 32 blends and nine salad kits all feature a new “Dole salad guide” with two scales to help define each blend’s taste (from “mild” to “bold” on a scale of 1 to 5) and texture (from “tender” to “crunchy,” also on a scale of 1 to 5). They also all feature a new “pairs well with” guide, which suggests ideal dressings, fruits, vegetables and other accompaniments that shoppers could use to spruce up their salads.

Ray DeRiggi, president of Dole Fresh Vegetables, told me that the goal of the new salad guide is to “get people more engaged, and expand their purchase options.” Research apparently shows that almost 40% of shoppers will opt not to buy a salad if their favorite blend is not in stock, and the numbering and merchandising scheme envisioned with the salad guide is geared toward encouraging those shoppers to expand their horizons and reach for something similar rather than walking away.

Personally, though, I was impressed with the “pairs well with” guide, and the simple recipes on the back of the bag. Wine, cheese, coffee and beer people have been doing this forever. There’s a huge variety of flavors and textures that can be created with blends of greens, and salad is probably one of the only foods where it’s equally easy to create something great and to create something boring with the same set of cooking skills. You just need a little bit of knowledge. Anyway, I thought this was one of the more interesting things out there today. It just seems like a cool way to give shoppers new ideas, and get them to explore a little.

I just arrived in Anaheim yesterday for the Produce Marketing Association’s annual Fresh Summit convention. My flight from the East Coast arrived in time for me to register for the show and check out an afternoon session on the Produce Traceability Initiative, featuring Jim Corby, vice president of produce merchandising for Food Lion; Gary Fleming, v.p. of industry technology and standards for PMA; Mike O’Brien, v.p. of produce and floral for Schnuck Markets; and Tom Casas, v.p. of IT and mechanization for Tanimura and Antle.

PTI has been an ongoing project with PMA, the United Fresh Produce Association, the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, and dozens of retailer, foodservice and supplier companies for over two years. The goal is to have a standardized electronic traceability program in place for the entire produce supply chain by 2012. And, the hope is that this program will lead to faster and more narrowly defined product recalls when contamination is detected or foodborne illness outbreaks occur. more