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The Mushroom Council 

Research and

Information Website
 

 

 June 2008 Industry News

 

	Mar-08	Mar-07	% change		YTD 08	YTD 07	% change
Total Shipments	67.05	67.72	-1.00		192.16	189.57	+1.37
Domestic Shipments	60.30	61.31	-1.65		170.09	169.97	+0.74
PA	33.34	34.00	-2.00		97.50	96.86	+0.66
CA	11.93	11.30	+0.60		31.83	30.43	+4.60
Rest of US	15.00	16.00	-6.25		40.76	42.69	-4.52
Imports	6.75	6.41	+5.35		22.07	19.60	+12.60

 

COUNCIL UPDATE

• The recent salmonella in tomatoes “scare” (which was even “joked” about by John Stewart on The Daily Show) prompted the following memo by Laura Phelps of the American Mushroom Institute, which deserves wider and more frequent review.  Here’s an excerpt from this memo:
  
  
  • “It is estimated that the salmonella outbreak will cost more than $100 million to tomato growers, packers and retailers whose produce was never contaminated." 
    Click here for the rest of the story.

 

• Vitamin D Marketing Update:
  
  
  • Good News!! Two new reports are out that answer many questions about how to effectively activate the vitamin D in fresh mushrooms, such as exposure time and intensity to achieve various levels of D, retention levels of D to ensure a claimed level of D in the market, impact on shelf-life/bacterial count and impact on the appearance of the mushroom.   One report, by USDA’s Ag Research Service center in Albany, CA is available online and is entitled “Vitamin D2 Formation from Post-Harvest UV-B Treatment of Mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) and Retention During Storage”. (J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Jun 4). The other, by Guelph Food Technology Center is being finalized; please contact Cheryl at the Council office to obtain a copy.
  • And better news:   AMA Adopts New Public Health Policies at Annual Meeting 
  • CHICAGO, June 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Medical Association (AMA), the nation's largest physician organization, voted today at its Annual Meeting to adopt the following new public health policies.
    
    
  • APPROPRIATE SUPPLEMENTATION OF VITAMIN D: The current Reference Intake Values for Vitamin D were established by the Food and Nutrition Board in 1997. Current research suggests that the Upper Limits for adults is likely overly conservative. Today the AMA called on the FDA to re-examine the current Daily Reference Intake Value for Vitamin D in light of new scientific findings.  Click here to read the June 17 press release on the AMA website. 
  • Which is why the mushroom industry is not the only industry excited about this incredible marketing opportunity. See the following from Margo Krause of Edelman:
    
    
    • “FYI: A patent on a vitamin D2 yeast product was announced on Friday by a US-based company with inventors based in the U.S. and Canada. The patent includes a reference to mushrooms in the discussion about vitamin D2’s biavailabilty - the Jasinghe mushroom research is cited. The patent uses the terms “enrichment,” “enhancement,” “radiation” and “irradiation” to describe the product and process of applying UV light.
    • The vitamin D content of the yeast is increased from 1,000% to 80,000% from baseline levels (Note: edible products containing the enriched yeast may deliver much lower amounts of D2). Applications for D enriched yeast include bread, hamburger buns and pizza dough. Samples were tested for the stability of vitamin D2 after storage from 4 to 14 days.”  To read more about this new product announcement, click here. 
      
  • More D news: See the latest from USA Today: “Giving your children all they need to grow big and strong may not be as simple as a gummy vitamin and three square meals. They still may be susceptible to an epidemic that's starting to gain the notice of pediatricians and bone doctors across the country: vitamin D deficiency.” For the rest of the story follow the link below: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-06-16-vitamin-d-main_N.htm
    
    
  • Note the table in the above article refers to a National Institute of Health document on D you also might find of interest. While mushrooms are mentioned as a sometime variable source, mushrooms are at least as much as liver and swiss cheese and thus should be on this list. The point is we do NOT need to wait for D-RICH mushrooms to be on the market to take advantage of this trend. What we have now, listed in USDA’s nutrient database, is enough to begin to lay claim to this nutrient of concern. We are working on getting on this list and others, though they are updated infrequently. What YOU can do is at least begin to put a nutrition label on your packages with selenium (antioxidant), potassium, D, etc. listed. For more about D from the NIH visit: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

MARKETING SUMMARY

• TOTAL IMPRESSIONS/PLACEMENTS TO DATE:
  May impressions overview: 

Program	May 2008 Impressions	Total Year Impressions	% of Annual Goal	% of Last Year Same Time Period
Consumer/Nutrition	42,799,353	298,598,631	75%	127%
Foodservice	872,187	2,330,471	86%	212%
Retail	346,357	626,624	51%	178%

 

• There were a total of 17 superfood placements in May, including Prevention, Men’s Best Life, Men’s Health, Kansas City Star and the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

• In May, mushrooms’ vitamin D availability was highlighted the Washington Post’s commuter newspaper, The Express, Santa Cruz Sentinel and The Oregonian. The 23rd Annual Mushroom Festival was featured in the Washington Post, and the Chicago Sun-Times highlighted the proper way to sauté mushrooms.  Also in May, coverage resulting from our partnership with Mario Batali began to run. Mario’s “Portabella Mushrooms with Arugula and Parmesan” recipe was featured in the Winston Salem Journal in print and online.

• The Council distributed a health professional survey to 24,000 “Today’s Dietitian” subscribers in May. Preliminary highlights include 2,071 dietitians completed the survey; 38% of respondents recommend mushrooms; 90% believe that mushrooms are nutritious; 96% believe mushrooms are part of a healthy diet; 22% use the term “superfood” when counseling clients.

• Web traffic update:  In April, Mushroominfo.com had a 9 percent increase and mushroomcouncil.org had a 1 percent decrease of visitors. There were two specific spikes in traffic on mushroominfo.com, one on April 24 and one on April 28, which we attribute to proactive media outreach. The April 24 spike could be related to the four Mushroom Council placements that ran the day before or the three placements that ran the day of the traffic spike, April 24, including Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Post & Courier and Northwest Herald. The April 28 spike could have been caused by the Atlanta Journal Constitution article, “Food: Seven-Day menu planner” that ran the day before the spike or the three Mushroom Council placements on April 28, including the Commercial Appeal and the St. Louis Post Courier. To see a detailed review of the Council’s comprehensive web traffic report click here.

 

On the Foodservice front: 

• The Council debuted the new foodservice collateral piece, Umami: Discover the Taste of Nature’s Hidden Treasure, at the Marketing Executives Group conference May 14-16. In addition to distributing the collateral piece, the Council also sponsored a lunch function in which mushrooms were featured in two dishes: Haricot Vert and Salmon with Shiitake Relish. Click here to view the recap report from the conference.  If you would like copies of this collateral piece, contact Cheryl at the Council office.

• In May, the Council launched a new foodservice banner ad campaign with ProChef SmartBrief. The first two umami ads exceeded the Council’s target goal of 50 click-thrus per ad, with a total number of 121 click-thrus. Click here to review details about the progress of the campaign.

• Meetings with key contacts during the National Restaurant Show and Marketing Executives Group conference last month have opened a number of new doors for mushroom menu and promotional development, including Marie Callender’s, Sodexo Retail Brand Group, and TGI Friday’s.

• For more on the status of the Council’s foodservice promotional pursuits, click here to see new mushroom menu items for May click here.

On the Retail front:

• The Council announced the Weight Watcher’s partnership to retailers and the trade press.  Placements have already run in The Packer, Grocery Headquarters and Supermarket News. The announcement can be found on our website www.mushroomcouncil.org under the Resource tab.  Feel free to send the release to your own customers as well.  Click here to see the Industry Release.  Click here to see the Trade Release.

• Supermarket sales data as reported by IRI shows that pounds sold increased by over 2% in May 2008 vs. the same month last year, consistent with reports that consumers are shifting from restaurants back to the home.  52 week pounds sales are flat, as the price of mushrooms, as well as all food, continues to climb.  Click here for the summary table of May supermarket sales performance.  For a more complete report of sales by region, please visit the following website: http://freshview.freshlookmarketing.com/cognos 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

This web site is paid for by the Mushroom Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act of 1990. This act allows commercial producers of fresh mushrooms the right to orderly collect assessments on domestic and imported fresh mushrooms. These funds are then used for the purpose of strengthening the mushroom industry's position in the marketplace, maintaining and expanding existing markets for mushrooms, and developing new markets and uses for fresh mushrooms.