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THE USHBC BLUESPAPERNews and Marketing Program Updates from the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council

December 2008

With a record crop of blueberries harvested this season, and more blueberries on the way, efforts by the U.S. Highbush blueberry council (USHbc) to encourage consumers and food manufacturers to “get the blues” are gaining even greater importance.

The North American blueberry council (NAbc) projects a record 2008 highbush blueberry crop of over 413 million pounds, considerably above the 357 million pounds produced in 2007. Imports are expected to increase as well as newly established blueberry acreage in chile and Argentina begins to mature and produce more fruit.

recent import figures illustrate the growth of the blueberry industry in the Southern Hemisphere. United States imports of chilean fresh blueberries totaled nearly 38 million pounds in 2007, a 10 million pound increase over the total of 28 million pounds imported the previous year.

During this same time period fresh blueberry imports from Argentina increased to nearly 12 million pounds, up from 9 million pounds

in 2006. Imports in 2008 are expected to follow this growth trend.

Keeping demand in step with supply remains a prime goal of the blueberry industry, and actions are being taken by the USHbc to address this objective.

continued increases in U.S. per capita blue-berry consumption, which has increased by more than +27% over the past five years from a total of 17.4 ounces in 2002 to an estimated 22.2 ounces in 2007; an increase in fresh blue-berry production, which is projected at nearly 55% of the 2008 crop compared to 48% of the 2007 crop; and an expected increase in new product development with blueberries this year compared to last are all positive indica-tors that USHbc efforts are on the right track.

In this expanded, year-end issue of The Bluespaper we highlight a number of USHbc market promotion and research activities from the past season all designed to encourage consumers, food service and industrial users to “get the blues” both here at home and abroad.

Time to Encourage More Consumers to Get the Blues

Blueberry News Inside . . .consumer Publicity ................................................................................................................... Pg 2blueberries Featured on Television .......................................................................................... Pg 4Putting blueberries on the menu .............................................................................................. Pg 6building blueberry Knowledge ................................................................................................. Pg 10blueberry Health research ....................................................................................................... Pg 12Food manufacturers and blueberries ....................................................................................... Pg 13Developing New International markets ..................................................................................... Pg 16Nomination and election of regional members ....................................................................... Pg 18USHbc Seeks Importer, exporter and Public member candidates ........................................ Pg 18USHbc members and Alternates - 2009 .................................................................................. Pg 19

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Summer meals were the theme of a feature page distributed to 1,800 newspapers, 240 magazines and 1,100 websites this past summer in cooperation with the Walnut mar-keting board. The full color, ready-to-print page carried a health and versatility mes-sage along with main dish and dessert reci-pes using both blueberries and walnuts.

An additional “electronic press release” was issued in October via the Internet to approxi-mately 1,000 food and lifestyle editors. The release featured blueberry gift ideas made with fresh, frozen or dried blueberries. Pho-tos and easy to prepare recipes for Blue-berry Chocolate Clusters made with fresh blueberries, Blueberry Party Mix with dried blueberries and Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar made with either fresh or frozen blueberries, were included in the release which was dis-tributed in time to capitalize on the holiday gift giving season.

Consumer Publicity Efforts Focus on Health and Year-Round AvailabilityHealth and the year round availability of fresh and frozen blueberries were two key media messages this year as the USHbc brought the blueberry message to consum-ers through print, television and radio place-ments. Print publicity activities included the distribution of both a winter season press kit and a summertime feature page.

The winter kit, titled “Lighten Up the New Year”, was distributed to over 800 food and lifestyle editors. The kit focused on healthy eating after the holidays while at the same time increasing the awareness of the avail-ability of fresh blueberries in the winter months. Photos and recipes for a Blueberry Waldorf Salad and Apple-Blueberry Compote were included with the release.

A series of press releases issued to newspaper editors during the year resulted in fresh blueberry coverage during both the summer and winter months.

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a Universal Press Syndicate featuring of a Star-Spangled Blueberry Parfait in their 7-Day menu Planner column; a Blueberry Compote Crumble placement with Tribune media Ser-vices and a Suburban Journals placement featuring Blueberry Dessert Pizza and Blue-berry Ricotta Parfaits.

blueberry basket deliveries to the media during the winter and summer helped keep blueberries and their year round availability, top of mind and to build relationships with editors. A gift basket was sent this past win-ter to twenty english and Spanish language health magazine and newspaper editors.

Visits were also scheduled this year with health and food editors at New York city based Hispanic magazines and newspapers including mira, Siempre mujer and el Tiem-po. During the visits, editors were given an overview of the blueberry industry, health information and usage ideas. blueberry tote bags were distributed which included a Spanish language press kit, fresh blueber-ries and a sample of Blueberry Trail Mix.

The USHbc also used ready-to-print col-umns to generate blueberry coverage in weekly and community newspapers. The pre-formatted articles were sent to 10,000 newspapers and included an english and Spanish version. Articles featured blueberry snacks as well as blueberries in salads, cob-bler and in 4th of July cupcakes.

Placements in national newspaper syndicates included a story on the blueberry industry dis-tributed by the Associated Press resulting in an estimated 72 million reader impressions;

This summer feature page, a cooperative effort with the Walnut Marketing Board, was distributed to 1,800 newspapers and 240 magazines nationwide.

The blueberry industry was prominently featured this year in a nationally distributed Associated Press story.

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An additional sixteen editors of women’s and food publications received summer baskets, as did representatives of six national televi-sion programs in New York. baskets includ-ed press kits and blueberry background in-formation as well as blueberry snacks and blueberry vinegar. The summer baskets also included cartons of fresh blueberries. both kits have helped to generate recent blue-berry stories in major publications such as better Homes and Gardens, Family circle, Woman’s World and martha Stewart Living.

Blueberries Featured on Both National and Regional Television Programs in 2008Dr. Wendy bazilian, a certified health and fitness instructor with a doctorate in public health and the author of Superfoods rX Diet, served as the USHbc media spokesperson in 2008 bringing the blueberry message to consumers through both television and radio interviews. Dr. bazilian was featured on the Good Day New York show on the Fox affiliate in New York city, AM Northwest on the Abc

affiliate in Po r t l a n d O r e g o n , the View From the Bay pro-gram on the Abc affiliate in San Fran-cisco and nationally on Abc’s G o o d M o r n i n g A m e r i c a Now. The healthfulness of blueberries

continues to generate magazine coverage such as these two articles that appeared this year in Better Homes and Gardens and Woman’s World.

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As Dr. bazilian is fluent is Spanish, she also ap-peared on Spanish language stations WNJU in New York city and KWeX in San Antonio. She also conducted ten interviews on Span-ish language radio stations in miami, Los An-geles, Dallas, el Paso and Greenville, South carolina. CNN en Espanol, a national radio syndicate with 70 stations, also featured an interview with Dr. bazilian.

In addition to Dr. bazil-ian’s efforts, the USHbc secured winter television placements supporting fresh imports on the na-tionally syndicated Mr. Food Show as well as on Nbc’s Today, the KAre Morning Show in minne-

apolis, the chef Pepin segment on Univision’s Despierta America and through a five city media tour by the “Love chef” who appeared on television stations in Tampa, Phila-delphia, Washington D.c., Sacra-mento and San Diego.

The “Love chef” followed up his winter media tour with a five city

Northeast tour this summer with blueberry presentations on stations in Philadelphia, buffalo, Syracuse, Hartford and New Haven as well as on his Daytime program syndicat-ed in seven markets: Tampa; raleigh; Jack-sonville; Savannah; charleston; birmingham and columbus, Georgia.

USHBC media spokesperson Dr. Wendy Bazilian, brought the blueberry health message to consumers though both television and radio appearances in 2008 and will continue her media efforts for blueberries in the coming year.

Regional television appearances by Dr. Bazilian, as well as a five-city media tour by the “Love Chef”, brought the blueberry story to viewers in both the summer and winter months this year.

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blueberries were also featured during National Blueberry Month by cookbook author martha Foose on a July 4th segment of Abc’s Good Morning America and by Produce Pete on his July 19 segment airing on WNbc’s Good Day New York. Additional July blueberry coverage included mentions on the chef Phil Andriano segment of WPIX New York CW 11 Morning News and by registered dietitian Joy bauer on the July 8 segment of Nbc’s Today Show.

Unique Usage Suggestions Put Blueberries on the MenuThe USHbc continued to bring unique blue-berry usage ideas and suggestions to food-service operators again this season through trade press releases, advertising, mailings, conferences and promotions. blueberry recipes and health related information were featured in 19 placements in foodservice trade publications in 2008 including Food management and restaurant Hospitality.

blueberry desserts were featured along with salads and other main dish recipes illustrat-ing the versatility of blueberries and encour-aging foodservice operators to add blueber-ries to their current menu items as well as to

consider new blueberry dishes.

Placements of blueberry advertisements in trade publications continued this year with a total of 29 print and online ad placements in a variety of foodservice magazines in-cluding Foodservice Director, Flavor & The menu and School Foodservice and Nutrition as well as foodservice related internet pages such as Starchefs.com and the recipe box section of the restaurant Hospitality maga-zine web page.

A fifth advertisement was added to the four foodservice ads developed last season. This new ad was a wintertime placement remind-ing readers that blueberries are available year-round and encouraging foodservice to consider fresh blueberries in the winter months.

The blueberry message was also brought to the foodservice industry face-to-face in a number of conferences this year including the World of Healthy Flavors and Produce First conferences sponsored by the culinary Institute of America (cIA). The conferences were attended by fifty foodservice operators and chefs and included presentations made by leading researchers and health policy makers as well as hands-on activities and chef demos which included blueberries.

The USHbc also participated in The Flavor Experience, a conference attended by 100 food industry decision makers. Fresh, fro-zen and dried blueberries were featured in meals and breaks throughout the three-day

National television coverage included blueberry recipes featured on ABC’s Good Morning America on July 4th and a blueberry feature by Chef Pepin on Univision’s Despierta America.

The USHBC continues to use television web pages as a means to generate consumer awareness and interest in blueberries.

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meeting. A blueberry breakfast and presen-tation was also included as part of the Fast Casual Summit, attended by foodservice chain marketing directors and executives this past September.

The USHbc Blue Plate Special, an electron-ic newsletter, was sent out to over 1,000 cor-porate level chefs and executives again this year. Two issues were distributed highlight-ing production news, menu ideas, examples of successful blueberry foodservice promo-tions and offers of USHbc foodservice bro-chures and materials. Those receiving the newsletter were also directed to the foodser-vice section of the USHbc website for more blueberry information.

Foodservice activities included blueberry story placements in trade publications such as Restaurant Hospitality, Food Management and Foodservice Director.

Promotions with restaurant chains continued with Universal Studios in Orlando adding a lemon-blueberry slush, made with frozen blueberries, to their beverage carts. This was the first line extension the theme park has made to their lemon slush. The pro-motion was reported to be a major success with cart sales doubling with the addition of the lemon-blueberry slush. Universal also notes that they have now made the blueber-ry spinach salad, promoted last summer in their Mythos Restaurant, a permanent year round menu item.

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A winter themed advertisement was added to the 2008 foodservice magazine campaign to encourage the use of winter season fresh blueberries.

The USHbc has also cooperated with Planet Smoothie, a 134-unit chain located primarily in the Southeast, in a pro-motion this past September and October. The promotion featured blueberries on window cling displays and cup stickers. customers were also offered nutrition informa-tion sheets and Planet Smoothie servers were encouraged to generate increased sales during the promotion though a sales contest.

Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse and the Office Beer Bar & Grill, with 62 units in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, conducted blueberry promotions from late may to early July this year. Featured items included a Blueberry Mojito and a variety of blueberry desserts including blueberry cobbler. The promotional items and the USHbc logo were featured on table tents and menu cards at each location to draw at-tention to these special offers.

As beverages are now reported to be an area of extensive growth in the foodservice industry, the USHbc will be tak-ing steps to create interest in additional blueberry beverages as part of the foodservice activities planned for the coming year.

blueberry promotions were held in a number of employee cafeterias again this year through cooperative efforts with Compass Group, CulinArt and Restaurant Associates as well as with various University cafeterias. Summertime blueber-ry promotions were held at 45 compass Group accounts in-cluding American Express, Ibm and AT&T. A total of 50,000 customers are served per day at these locations. blueberry promotions ran from two to four weeks in length with fresh and frozen blueberries on the menu and the distribution of

Planet Smoothie, a 134-unit chain, ran a blueberry promotion this past September and October that included blueberry messages on window clings, nutrition cards and these “Berry Impressive” cup stickers.

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blueberry leaf-lets. most loca-tions reported that their blue-berry purchases doubled during the promotion compared to the same time period in 2007.

CulinArt held blueberry promotions at 115 accounts this year, compared to 50 last year, including activities at the Los Angeles Times, the New York Mercantile Exchange and several Fortune 500 companies. A to-tal of 150,000 customers per day were ex-posed to the blueberry message during the promotion and blueberry cookbooks were raffled off at each unit.

cafeteria promotions were also held in cooperation with Restaurant Associates at their House of rep-resentatives cafeterias in Wash-ington D.c. serving over 12,000 guests per day in eight food out-lets. The blueberry promotion in-cluded a chef’s demo table, free samples, and blueberries featured throughout the menu, with the

National Blueberry Month was celebrated in promotions with major cafeteria feeders including Compass Group, CulinArt, Restaurant Associates and Guest Services. The CulinArt blueberry promotion pictured here was featured in 115 of their accounts serving a total of 150,000 customers per day.

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most popular items to become year-round menu additions. Guest Services held a “blue-berry bonanza” in thirty-five of their accounts this year compared to nine accounts the previ-ous season. The blueberry promotion ran for a four-week period at locations, which includ-ed a number of federal government buildings, serving an estimated 35,000 guests per day.

blueberries were brought to college cam-puses this year with a college cafeteria pro-motion and contest and a winter blueberry promotion at the University of Massachu-setts. The weeklong promotion at the uni-versity was a campus wide event with slide shows, balloons, costumes, contests and chef table demos. The most popular blue-berry dishes featured during the promotion will become regular items on the University of Massachusetts cafeteria menu.

A “chase the Winter blues” contest was also initiated this year to encourage college caf-eterias to feature fresh blueberries. campus dining directors were challenged to conduct weeklong promotions with numerous prizes. The promotion was publicized through online newsletter advertisements and announce-

ments. Winners were Iowa State University with an “It’s O.K. to be blue” promotional theme and SUNY Cobleskill with a “blueber-ry bash” themed promotion that included 21 menu items with blueberries as an ingredient.

Building Blueberry Knowledge is Elementarybuilding blueberry awareness among ele-mentary school aged children continued as a USHbc goal again this year. In addition to distributing the popular blueberry menu backer to schools across the country, with over 2 million menu backers distributed since 2006, the USHbc developed a new blueberry poster and a set of blueberry activity sheets designed for third through sixth graders.

The blueberry activity sheets support the basic curriculum areas of math, social sci-ence and reading and are produced in copy ready format which can be easily download-ed by elementary school teachers from the USHbc website. A total of six sheets have been developed, three for students in third and fourth grades and three for those in the fifth and six grades. blueberry facts and in-formation are woven into math problems, reading passages and social study and ge-ography related questions.

Promotions in college cafeterias this past winter included this event at the University of Massachusetts with blueberry slide shows, balloons, costumes, contests and demos. The most popular blueberry dishes served during the promotion are planned to remain on the cafeteria menu.

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This blueberry poster was distributed to school cafeterias and classrooms this year featuring blueberry facts and easy, healthful snacking ideas.

Math, language and social studies activity sheets for both third/fourth and fifth/sixth graders brought the blueberry message to the classroom this year reinforcing basic skills and introducing students to the history, production and health benefits of blueberries.

In addition to learning sheets, the USHbc pro-duced a new full color poster distributed to teach-ers and school cafeterias. Titled “Get the Scoop on blueberries” the poster notes easy to prepare snacks including a P, b & b (peanut butter and blueberry sandwich) and a blueberry trail mix. The poster also notes blueberry trivia and facts and lists the USHbc website for additional blueberry information.

The USHbc is also working with the Public broad-casting System (PbS) on their Chefs A Field: Kids on the Farm television series. A half hour blueber-ry segment will be featured on the show, which has over 14 million viewers nationwide. The show includes a tour of blueberry fields and processing facilities along with recipe demonstrations. The blueberry segment will be aired in the spring and summer of 2009.

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This health themed ad was placed in nine health professional publications in 2008 including the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Blueberry Health Research Showing Promising ResultsThe USHbc research committee has is-sued a request for Proposals (rFP) and will be reviewing study submissions in the com-ing months as the council continues to fund health related studies to learn more about the potential benefits of blueberry consump-tion. emphasis is being placed on potential projects dealing with diabetes, vision, and age related diseases. research committee review of current blueberry health research study progress notes that the areas of vision and diabetes continue to show promise.

The USHbc is currently funding a number of health related research projects with universi-ties, national research centers as well as the USDA, dealing with a wide range of age re-lated concerns. current projects include:

Novel Actions of Dietary Blueberry to • Prevent Adipose Inflammation and Type 2 Diabetes - USDA HNrcA boston

Blueberry-Enriched Diets- Effect on • Metabolic Syndrome - University of michigan

Chronic Effects of Freeze-Dried Whole • Blueberry Drink Consumption on Biomarkers of Lipid Peroxidation and Inflammation in Subjects with Metabolic Syndrome (MES) - Oklahoma State University

The Effect of Blueberry Extract to • Enhance Insulin Sensitivity in Human Subjects- A Pilot Trial - Pennington biomedical research center

Distribution of Anthocyanians in • Tissues of Blueberry-Fed Pigs - USDA HNrcA boston and Agriculture & Agri-Food canada

Do Blueberries Improve Vision and • Eye Health - Dalhousie University and Agri-Food canada

Mechanisms Involved in the Beneficial • Effects of Blueberries on Neuronal Aging and Behavior - USDA HNrcA boston

The blueberry health message continued to be directed to both consumers and medical professionals this year with a total of 13 mag-azine ad placements in nine medical publica-tions and three consumer magazines. circu-lation for the 13 placements totaled over 2.2 million. The health publication advertisement titled “Don’t You Wish All Your Patients Would eat a Healthy Diet”, encourages medical pro-fessionals and dieticians to encourage their patients to include a serving or more of blue-berries in their daily diets in easy ways such as adding them to salads, cereal, smoothies or eating blueberries as a snack.

The publications chosen for the ad placement were the Journal of the American Dietetic As-

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sociation, the American Journal of Lifestyle medicine, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the New england Journal of medicine, medical economics, the Journal of the American medical Association, American medical News, the American Journal of clini-cal Nutrition and Diabetes educator.

A consumer version of the ad with the same visual and the headline “blueberries, I can’t Live Without Them” was placed in eating Well magazine, body + Soul and Natural Health in may, July and August.

USHBC Looks for New and Innovative Ways for Food Manufacturers to Use BlueberriesGiven projected increases in blueberry supply, the USHbc food manufacturer publicity pro-gram is looking at new and innovative ways to encourage food manufacturers to use more blueberries in their products, or to roll out new products featuring blueberries as a key ingre-dient. While maintaining current activities to support current use, the USHbc is also con-sidering new unique but promising product areas such as pet foods and cosmetics.

The USHBC website www.blueberry.org continues to be updated and serves as an excellent source of blueberry information for consumers, foodservice, food manufacturers and the media.

Food manufacturer publicity program ac-tivities deliver the blueberry value message to the food industry while at the same time increasing awareness of blueberry health benefits. Ongoing actions include techni-cal assistance, continued updating of the USHbc website, participation in food trade shows and seminars, publicity, advertising and the continuation of the new blueberry product award program.

The blueberry message was brought face to face to a wide range of food manufactur-ers this past year through participation in a number of Institute of Food Technologist (IFT) Regional Supplier Nights as well as the National IFT Show held this past June in New Orleans and the Bakery Showcase Canada which took place in Toronto this past may.

The National IFT Show drew an estimated 12,000 attendees and 900 exhibitors. Up-dated blueberry information sheets covering blueberry formats, health, nutrition and anti-oxidants were distributed from the USHbc booth, as were samples and formulas for two cookie product concepts (a Blueberry Hap-piness Cookie and a Blueberry Biscotti) and samples of locally grown fresh blueberries.

Your source for the latest blueberry information:

www.blueberry.org

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blueberry cookie concepts were also sam-pled at the Bakery Showcase Canada along with healthy “blueberry Freedom bars” made with dried blueberries, whole-wheat flour, flaxseed, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. A range of blueberry formats of interest to bak-ers such as dried blueberries, osmotically preserved blueberries, freeze dried blue-berries, blueberry concentrate and powder were also displayed at the USHbc booth.

This year the USHbc also used the Internet to bring the blueberry message to food in-dustry members “desk side” through the first blueberry “webinar”. Held in cooperation with Prepared Foods magazine, the webinar included presentations on the history of the blueberry industry, background on blueber-ry production and processing, an overview of the blueberry market and supply, and an update on blueberry health research.

many of those who accessed the on-line presentation titled “Blueberries- Super Food and Super Ingredient-Today and Tomorrow”, noted that they have a better understanding and appreciation of the blueberry industry, the healthfulness of blueberries, and how they would benefit by including blueberries in their products.

The level of antioxidants found in blueber-ries was discussed along with their benefits. A question and answer session followed the USHbc presentation, which allowed for additional discussion on blueberry applica-tions and benefits. The USHbc webinar will be archived on the Prepared Foods website for one year and can be accessed from the webinar section of their site at www.pre-paredfoods.com.

The blueberry message was also delivered to the food industry with the placement of blueberry articles in numerous trade publi-cations including Food Technology maga-zine, Prepared Foods magazine and Food Product Design. Articles included blueberry product concepts, information on blueber-ries and health, industry and supply infor-mation, as well as applications for a wide va-riety of blueberry product forms from frozen and dried to purees and powders.

Additional awareness was created through the placement of the USHbc “bright, bold, beautiful” trade ad in many of these publi-cations. A total of 19 trade ad placements were scheduled throughout the year.

The first USHBC “Webinar”, an Internet based seminar, was launched this year and provided an effective means to bring the blueberry message to a wide range of food manufacturers.

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This USHBC advertorial was placed again this year in Food Technology Magazine encouraging the use of real blueberries and noting how blueberries add value to food products.

The USHbc also placed a blueberry adver-torial in five issues of Food Technology mag-azine in 2008. The full color, full page ad-vertorial provides information on blueberry product forms along with health information, consumer interest in products that contain blueberries and the “made With real blue-berries” seal. readers are directed to the USHbc website for additional blueberry in-formation.

In addition to the trade magazine placement, the advertorial was also placed in the Inside IFT magazine distributed at the National IFT Show in June as well as in their IFT Food Expo program and directory.

The USHbc New Product of the Year pro-gram continues to encourage optimal use of blueberries and to recognize novel blue-berry use. This was the fifth year of the pro-

gram with 2008 winners to be announced in January of 2009.

best new blueberry products are being iden-tified in the bakery, beverage, cereal, snack, dairy and confection categories. All entries had to contain highbush blueberries, with blueberries as the primary fruit on the label wherever possible. Artificial blueberry use was an automatic disqualification, and users of the USHbc “made With real blueberries” seal were awarded bonus points by the judges.

Products are judged based upon originality, blueberry flavor, perceived healthfulness, overall product quality and packaging de-sign. Winners for 2007 were Van’s Organic Multi-Grain Blueberry Waffles in the bakery category, Post Selects Blueberry Morning in the breakfast cereal category, Tropicana

Articles such as this one placed in Food Marketing & Technology magazine are designed to continue to create blueberry awareness and interest among a wide range of food companies.

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Pure Pomegranate Blueberry Juice in the beverage category, Stonyfield Farms Yo-Mommy Blueberry Yogurt in the dairy cat-egory and Trader Joe’s Anti-Oxidant Nut & Berry Mix and Nuts About Antioxidants Trek Mix in the snack category.

This year’s winning products will be featured on the USHbc website (www.blueberry.org) and will be recognized in food manufacturer publicity placements during the coming year.

Efforts Continue to Develop New International Markets for Blueberriesexport market promotion efforts continued in 2008 and were highlighted by the first shipment of fresh blueberries to India. The Government of India Department of Agricul-ture and cooperation, published new rules late this summer that allow fresh blueber-ries from the United States and canada to be imported into the country of one billion inhabitants.

Once fresh shipments were approved, the USHbc launched a promotion in New Delhi and mumbai that featured blueberry sam-pling at selected big bazaar stores in each city. Importers and traders were invited to attend the sampling events to see first hand how readily the Indian consumer is accept-ing fresh blueberries.

Along with sampling fresh blueberries, Indi-an children participated in a puzzle contest and consumers were asked to complete a questionnaire to learn more about their re-action to and interest in blueberries. Point of sale material directed consumers to the samples and brought attention to the health-fulness of blueberries.

The promotion was supported with trade ads placed in three Indian food trade publi-cations, Food & beverages, express Hospi-tality and Wheat Update, which announced

that fresh blueberries were now available, provided background on the blueberry an-tioxidant message and noted the other vari-ous forms of blueberries available to Indian food manufacturers such as dried, frozen, and powders.

The ads also included details on the very favorable consumer response to fresh blue-berries based upon feedback from the big bazaar sampling where 78% noted the taste of blueberries as “excellent”, 12% rated them “very good” and 10% rated the taste as “good”.

The USHbc also participated in the Interna-tional Food, Drink and Hospitality Exhibition (IFe India) held in New Delhi this month. The show offered an opportunity to create blue-berry awareness and help to encourage not only industrial user interest in blueberries, but awareness and demand for fresh blueberries among the Indian food trade as well.

USHbc international efforts continue in Asia with the expansion of native language blueberry websites in Japan, Korea and Tai-wan as well as participation in various trade shows in the region. This past year the USHbc participated in the Food Ingredients Asia Exhibition held in bangkok, Thailand,

Consumers in India line up for their first taste of fresh blueberries during sampling events held this year in Big Bazaar chain stores located in New Delhi and Mumbai.

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A series of advertisements placed this year in Indian trade magazines announce the arrival of fresh blueberries and also encourage manufacturers to consider dried and frozen blueberries in their products.

the IFIA Show in Tokyo, Japan and the Food Taipei Trade Show in Taiwan. In addition to trade shows in Asia, the USHbc participated in the SIAL 2008 Show in Paris, France this year to explore market potential in europe.

The USHbc has also contracted with an in-country marketing representative in Taiwan who has been meeting with food companies and identifying opportunities for blueberry pro-motional activities in this promising market. As a result of this in-county presence, the USHbc has participated in the five-a-day campaign with the Formosa Cancer Foundation, a menu promotion with the Splendor Hotel Kaohsiung, and secured coverage of the blueberry health message on national television in Taiwan. The blueberry health message was

highlighted on July 14 in a story on “Happy Life King” which airs on a national Taiwanese television network.

USHBC international promotional efforts include participation in shows such as the Food Taipei Trade Show held in Taiwan this past June

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USHBC Seeks Importer, Exporter and Public Member CandidatesThe USHbc Industry relations committee is seeking nominees to be considered for the USHbc Importer, exporter and Public mem-ber and Alternate positions on the council. Nominees are being sought for the three-year term that begins January 1, 2010.

The committee plans to present a slate of nominees to the USHbc executive commit-tee by February 2, 2009. The council will then make final candidate selections at the USH-bc Spring meeting on February 28, 2009. At the February 28 meeting, the council will rec-ommend to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture a final candidate for member and alternate, along with two additional candidates for each of these three positions, for consideration by the Secretary for final appointment.

blueberry industry members interested in being considered for the USHbc Importer, exporter or Public member and Alternate positions are encouraged to contact the USHbc office no later than Monday, Feb-ruary 2, 2009 by phone at (916) 983-0111, or by email to [email protected].

USHBC to Conduct Nomination and Election of Regional MembersThe current terms for USHbc regional mem-bers as well as USHbc Importer, exporter and Public member will close at the end of 2009. Nominations will be taking place over the next few months to fill these seven positions on the council. Nomination pack-ets will be sent by the USHbc to growers in each of the four regions (West, midwest, Northeast and South) this January.

Included in the nomination packet will be a USHBC Nomination Application Form and in-structions, a USHBC Information Sheet and mailing envelope. Nomination packet infor-mation will also be posted on the USHbc website at www.blueberry.org.

The USHbc regional member nominations will take place over a five-week period from January 12 to February 16, 2009. Nomina-tions received after February 16 will not ap-pear on the final printed USHbc ballot.

Individual USHbc regional ballots will be sent to growers in each of the four regions on April 20, 2009. ballots will list nominees from the region along with their candidate statement. Space will be available on the ballot to indicate any write-in candidate as well. ballot instructions and a mailing en-velope will be included in the ballot packet. ballots will also be posted on the USHbc website in downloadable form.

elections will take place over a five-week pe-riod from April 20 to may 25, 2009. The USH-bc will also make recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture for the USHbc Im-porter, exporter and Public member follow-ing the council meeting in February of 2009.

regional members as well as Importer, ex-porter and Public members will assume their USHbc positions starting January 1, 2010 for a three-year term.

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U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council2390 East Bidwell Street, Suite 300 • Folsom, California 95630

Phone (916) 983-0111 • Fax (916) 983-9022 • Web Site: www.blueberry.org

USHBC Members and Alternates - 2009

GeOrGIA .....................................................member - Adair Chambers-Peterson ..........................................................................................Alternate - John Bennett

mIcHIGAN ............................................................................. member - Bob Carini ...................................................................................Alternate - Kathryn Clemons

NeW JerSeY .....................................................................member - Denny Doyle .......................................................................................Alternate - Tim Wetherbee

NOrTH cArOLINA ................................................................member - Neil Moore ......................................................................................Alternate - Ralph Carter Jr.

OreGON ........................................................................ member - Doug Krahmer ............................................................................................Alternate - Ryan Brown

WASHINGTON ........................................................................ member - Rod Cook ....................................................................................... Alternate - Bryan Sakuma

region 1WeSTerN reGION ......................................................member - Verne Gingerich ........................................................................................ Alternate - Roy Malensky

region 2mIDWeST reGION ...................................................member - Beverlee DeJonge ............................................................................................ Alternate - Ron Bodtke

region 3NOrTHeAST reGION .......................................................... member - Art Galletta .............................................................................................Alternate - Dave Arena

region 4SOUTHerN reGION ...................................................... member - Ken Patterson ........................................................................................Alternate - Luis Monterde

ImPOrTer ....................................................................... member - John Shelford ............................................................................................ Alternate - Keith Mixon

eXPOrTer ...........................................................................member - Parm Bains .................................................................................................. Alternate - Ray Biln

PUbLIc member ............................................................member - Kirk McCreary ............................................................................................ Alternate - Amy Howell HANDLer ............................................................................ member - Paul Macrie .............................................................................................Alternate - Guy Cotton

USHbc STAFF ..................................................... executive Director - Mark Villata ............................................................... compliance coordinator - Mary Nezbeth ................................................................ Administrative Assistant - JoDee Gowan

MSIPROOF

U.S. HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY COUNCIL

USHBC MEETING SCHEDULE

2009 USHBC Spring MeetingGulfport, mississippi

Thursday, February 26 to Saturday, February 28, 2009courtyard Gulfport beachfront

Gulfport, mississippiPhone (228) 864-4310

2009 USHBC Fall MeetingPortland, Oregon

Thursday, October 15 to Saturday, October 17, 2009

The benson HotelPortland, Oregon

Phone (503) 228-2000

2010 USHBC Spring Meetingboston, massachusettsThursday, February 25

to Saturday, February 27, 2010

2010 USHBC Fall Meeting Grand rapids, michigan

Thursday, October 14 to Saturday, October 16, 2010

The USHBC has adopted a diversity outreach plan to attempt to achieve a diverse representation on the Council. USHBC pro-grams and meetings are open to all individuals. The USHBC prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, genetic information, parental status and marital or family status. The USHBC fully complies with any and all applicable Federal, State, and local equal employment opportunity statutes, ordinances and regulations, including, but not limited to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; the Age Discrimination in Employ-ment Act of 1967; and the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact the USHBC office at (916) 983-0111. To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington D.C. 20250-9410 or call 800-795-3272 (voice) or 202-720-6382 (TDD).

The USHBC Bluespaper is published by the

U.S. Highbush blueberry council 2390 east bidwell Street, Suite 300

Folsom, california 95630

Phone (916) 983-0111 • Fax (916) 983-9022

Web Site: www.blueberry.org, or www.ushbc.org.

MSIPROOF