Florida avocados get strong retail support

Excerpts from a 5/30/11 article in The Packer by Doug Ohlemeier

Florida avocados travel throughout the U.S. and Canada and have become increasingly more popular even with West Coast shoppers.

Although the Southeast and Northeast remain the strongest buying regions for Florida avocados, Bill Brindle, vice president of sales management for Brooks Tropicals, LLC., said the grower-shipper sells significant volume to West Coast retailers.

An efficient hydro cooling system removes field heat and provides Brooks' avocados enough shelf life to sip as far west as California, Washington and Oregon, Brindle said.

Additionally, West Coast buyers remain more health conscious, Brindle said. And marketing avocados that possess less fat and fewer calories represent a strong step into the market, he added.

New web site for Brooks Tropicals

Same great information but some added extras.

Hot off the Grill with SlimCado Avocados

Yes, that's right - SlimCado avocados hot off the grill.

For tips on grilling SlimCados and other avocado hot weather recipes check out the latest Tropical Nutrition column on our website.

Brooks Tropicals meets with publishing heavyweight, Meredith Publishing

If you've never heard of Meredith Publishing, you're not alone. But I bet that you have heard of Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle and other consumer magazines including Publix's Greenwise.

Earlier this week, our Tropical Nutrition columnist Donna Shields and I visited Meredith Publishing in Des Moines, Iowa. Unlike our visits to produce buyers at grocery stores, our meeting was entirely consumer focused.

They wanted and got story ideas, recipe ideas and the nutritional facts.

Seventeen editors, writers and testers attended the meeting (7 to 8 attendees is the norm).

As refreshments, we served chopped Caribbean Red (CR) papaya, gluten-free CR papaya bread and CR papaya relish.

Belize Fruit Packers once again superior in Food Safety.

It's another successful year for Belize Fruit Packers (BFP).

Committed to maintaining its excellent Food Safety record, BFP has yet again attained outstanding results during a food safety audit conducted by Primus Labs.

BFP is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brooks Tropicals. BFP's state-of-the-art packinghouse packs Caribbean Red and Caribbean Sunrise Papayas in Belize CA.

Audited on April 20, 2011, BFP attained a 97% outstanding score. Up two points from last year. To those familiar with food safety audits, you know gaining 2 points above the 90% mark is extremely hard work.

Congratulations to our fellow workers at BFP. Your hard work and commitment shows.

Naturally less fat and fewer calories - SlimCado Avocados

Yes Virginia, there are avocados that naturally have less fat and fewer calories - SlimCados.

SlimCado avocados are a different variety than the leading California avocado. Think about it, California is a dry environment; Florida - where SlimCados are grown - is anything but dry. You'd have to be a different avocado to not only survive but thrive as SlimCados do.

SlimCados have a much lighter taste. A great avocado for slicing on top of salads, chopping into fruit salsas, dicing up on top of creamy soups, and much more.

And if you're thinking, avocados have the 'good' fat and you needn't worry about fat content, read this.

Belize packing facility achieves, yet another, superb food audit

Congratulations, BFP for another successful food safety audit. 97% is fantastic.