February 2010 Industry News

Numerous placements in January highlighted the immunity benefits in mushrooms, as cold and flu season continued into the New Year, resulting in nearly 29 million impressions. Coverage included a hit on NBC’s “Today,” with white button mushrooms noted for their polysaccharide content, a substance known to boost the immune system. This segment garnered more than nine million broadcast and online impressions. The Spokesman-Review, Huffington Post (blog) and many other broadcast stations, like San Francisco’s KGO-TV, highlighted mushrooms for their immunity properties as well.

SHIPMENT SUMMARY

Mushroom Council First Handler Reports (millions of pounds; totals may not match due to rounding).

Current Charts	Nov-09	Nov-08	% change	YTD 09	YTD 08	% change
Total Shipments	58.27	58.13	0.23*	644.80	672.42	-4.11
Domestic Shipments	51.35	51.76	-0.80	567.67	596.97	-4.91
PA	31.13	31.51	-1.22	338.01	346.59	-2.48
CA	8.95	8.80	1.69	101.32	111.39	-9.04
Rest of US	11.27	11.45	-1.56	128.35	138.99	-7.66
Imports	6.92	6.37	8.60	77.13	75.46	2.22

* Please note that this month there was an increase of 0.23% over 2008 shipments. As this

may not seem like much, it is the first month in 2009 that we saw an increase over 2008.

Hopefully this is just the beginning of an upward trend!

COUNCIL UPDATE

The call for nominations for terms beginning January 1, 2011 for regions 1 (All states except for CA & PA), 2 (PA) and 3 (CA) have been mailed. Please turn in your nominations by May 3rd.

The next Council meeting will be held on May 20-21, 2010 in Chicago.

It is time to apply for Exemption Certificates. 2009 Exemption Certificates are no longer valid. If you are exempt, an application for exemption should be completed and mailed to the Council office. Please remember that exemption status is not retroactive; it is good from the date of application through the end of the calendar year of application.

The Council has been working on Truck Panels for you to put on your trucks; click here to see the artwork; click here to see the style guide. Details about the truck panels will be given and order sheets will be provided to give everyone an opportunity to put their order in.

2010 Power Period 1 materials and all of 2010 recipes are now available and can be found on the Council website by clicking here. If high-resolution pictures are needed, contact the Council office.

To see the February issue of the Mushrooms and Health Global Initiative Bulletin, click here.

MARKETING SUMMARY

TOTAL IMPRESSIONS/PLACEMENTS TO DATE:

January impressions overview:

Program	January 2010 Impressions	% of January 2009 Impressions	Total Year Impressions to Date*	% of Annual Goal
Consumer/Nutrition	58,360,717	51%	58,360,717	11%
Foodservice	558,665	186%	558,665	15%
Retail	553,319	209%	553,319	31%

     In January, the Mushroom Council had an average of 63 percent share of voice. While
     conducting proactive media outreach, we generally expect Mushroom Council coverage to
     represent between 33-75 percent of mushroom placements, according to average consumer
     product and commodity industry standards. Note that there are always external factors or
     industry forces that could change that metric.

Mushroom Share of Voice:

Week Ending	Mushroom Council Generated Placements	% of Total Mushroom Coverage**	Type of Outreach
January 2	5	100 percent	Proactive
January 9	14	56 percent	Proactive
January 16	4	80 percent	Proactive
January 23	9	75 percent	Proactive
January 30*	11	52 percent	Proactive
Total	43	63 percent	Proactive

*This week includes coverage from January 31 as well.
**This does not include mushroom recipe coverage that is not Council-generated.

2009 Sales:

The mushroom category was one of the leading categories for produce growth during 2009. Sales were up 6% compared to overall produce sales which were flat, while mushroom pounds were up 7.7% compared to total produce up 6.1%, according to FreshLook Marketing for period ending December 27, 2009. This continued growth propelled retail sales nationwide by nearly 800 million dollars for the year!

Mushrooms in the News and Online:

For PP1, the Council partnered with spokesperson Keri Glassman, MS, RD, CDN who touted mushrooms’ selenium and B vitamin content on LX New York. The segment featured Glassman’s new book, The O2 Diet, as well. Click here to view segment.

In January, two e-blasts were sent to the top 500 short-lead editors at media publications across the nation. The first e-blast showcased the Council’s partnership with Glassman and encouraged fitting mushrooms into New Year’s weight loss resolutions. The second e-blast highlighted winter blues and foods to improve mood, such as mushrooms due to their vitamin D content.

Mushrooms’ vitamin D content generated nearly eight million impressions this month. The Council partnered with Julie Upton, MS, RD, CSSD for a segment about vitamin D that aired on “The Daily Buzz” on January 25, 2010. Upton notes that mushrooms are one of the only natural sources of vitamin D, and that the most popular varieties – button, crimini and portabella – contain 1-97% the DV. Click here to view segment. Also in January, Cleveland’s News-Herald told readers to “Take another look at versatile mushrooms. Their meaty texture and earthy taste make them a great meat substitute that’s rich in antioxidants, low in calories and have the added benefit of being the only fruit or vegetable to naturally have vitamin D.” Mushrooms’ vitamin D content was further featured in More magazine, First for Women and various Web sites. First for Women reaches more than five million readers alone!

Mushroom Council placements represented an average of 63 percent of total mushroom news, which is within the norm of 33 to 75 percent during a period of proactive outreach. To view all January placements, click here.

In January, MushroomInfo.com and MushroomChannel.com experienced 11,722 unique visitors combined, a 20 percent increase compared to December’s total unique visitors. Visitors to the Mushroom Channel and MushroomInfo.com visitors have increased as a result of healthy eating angles post-holiday and spikes in traffic surrounding mushroom recipe round-ups with outgoing links.

Twitter and Mushroom Channel subscriber numbers have continued to rise steadily. The Council has 1,411 Twitter and Facebook followers to date. Obtaining these followers resulted in 138,471 total online exposures in January, on par with December’s total of 139,562.

On the Retail Front:

Mushrooms were included in special sections of The Packer and Produce Business for the month of January which resulted in 14 placements. Best practices around promoting mushrooms in the winter were featured, along with the upcoming Big Ten foodservice challenge. These media placements resulted in 553,319 impressions.

The Council developed an industry survey to obtain anonymous feedback from members regarding retail tools, materials and communications to understand which forms of communication are most helpful. The survey was distributed on January 6. Results will help guide 2010 programming.

The latest edition of The Mushroom Marketplace to achieve their goals this year. Share the latest newsletter with your retailers, and remind them why mushrooms are the hidden treasure in their produce departments! newsletter was distributed on January 28. It contained articles discussing the ways fresh mushrooms can help consumers and retailers alike stay on track.

Be on the lookout for a kit containing information about the Council-created truck decals. The Council will be providing one free truck decal for each grower. Truck decals are a simple and cost effective way to remind consumers to add mushrooms to their everyday meals and drive traffic to MushroomInfo.com. These truck decals also will be highlighted in the upcoming edition of Mushroom News.

The Council pursues editorial opportunities on an ongoing basis to promote mushrooms with various trade publications. Please share with us any news or information from your region for the following upcoming opportunities:

For a more detailed report click here (most recent Mushrooms Top Line report).

For larger image, click here.

On the Foodservice Front:

This month, foodservice media outreach resulted in two front-page articles featuring Mushroom Council recipes and photography. A placement on Savory.tv featured the stuffed mushroom recipe that Chef William Bradley of Addison restaurant created for the Council’s booth at the International Foodservice Editorial Council conference. Additional January placements continued to keep mushrooms in Italian and Asian cuisine stories. Click here to see article in Restaurant Hospitality.

The Council was a silver sponsor of the Worlds of Healthy Flavors and Produce First! conference on January 20-22 at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, Calif. The Council worked to promote mushrooms as an essential part of healthy menu development with the conference’s influential audience of leading nutrition scientists, corporate chefs, global culinary experts and top media representatives. The Council sponsored a booth that offered mushroom small plate samples; a healthy breakfast with various mushroom dishes; and a cooking demonstration of a delicious mushroom faro burger. During the conference, the Council met with key corporate chefs and restaurant marketers to discuss future mushroom promotions and nutrition initiatives. The Council also hosted a dinner to discuss the Healthy Menus Collaborative, a leadership opportunity for mushrooms among the nation’s top chains. Attendees included Brinker International, Dunkin’ Brands, Harvard, McDonald’s, Sodexo and Yale.

The Council recently completed a mushroom menu promotion with Sodexo, a food management company that ranks as the tenth largest chain in the country, just behind KFC and ahead of Dunkin’ Donuts and Applebee’s. The mushroom promotion ran at 2,400 locations, including 600 colleges, 800 healthcare locations and 1,000 corporate dining cafeterias. Sodexo promoted five mushroom dishes on its “In Season” Fall-Holiday menu, including the Mushroom Frittata Omelet, Philly Cheese Steak Wrap, Portabella Rustica Sandwich, Spinach Mushroom Calzone and Provencal Mushroom and Chevre Pizza. During the promotion, Sodexo sold an incremental 1.5 million pounds of fresh mushrooms in more than 6 million servings of the five featured items, garnering an estimated 142.3 million consumer impressions.

Teams from the Big Ten universities have been asked to submit recipes incorporating cultivated mushrooms to the Council’s “The Best Recipe Goes to Indianapolis” contest. Dishes will be evaluated on February 26 based on creativity/uniqueness, flavor and visual appeal by a team of judges including Liz Grossman, managing editor of Plate magazine; Frank Chlumsky, chef instructor at Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts; and Bart Minor, Mushroom Council president. Trade outreach is being conducted and will continue after the winner is chosen. All recipes become the property of the Council and will be shared with the industry for use in outreach efforts.

For an update on the status of the Council’s foodservice promotional pursuits, click here; to see new mushroom menu items for January click here.