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Eat your veggies: new convenient products make it easier to do just that.

Article Excerpt
One of the messages that emerged from this year's release of the new Dietary Guidelines was that consumers are being encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables.

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Products that made increased fruit and vegetable consumption easy by means of a convenient format were clear winners in the category this past year--particularly new fruit products. And although new product introduction numbers may have declined among salad kit and vegetable product segments, dollar sales in these categories remained strong as consumers continued to look for convenient solutions for eating more healthily.

"Fresh cut fruits and vegetables and bagged salad products continue to experience double-digit growth that exceeds the flat or one percent growth typical of all other food categories," says Steve Dickstein, vice president of marketing at Ready-Pac Produce, Irwindale, Calif. "The consumer's decision about what to eat is typically a conflict between three factors--health, taste and convenience. The fresh categories don't ask the consumer to compromise on any of these decision drivers, and that is why these categories are growing so fast."

The year saw new introductions in the varieties of bagged salad mixes...