With the Farmers to Families Food Box Program underway across the country, companies are busy packing and sending fresh produce to food banks.
Here’s a roundup of recent COVID-19-related news.
CDS Distributing
CDS Distributing Inc., South San Francisco, is partnering with Produce Express, Sacramento, Calif., to pack and distribute fresh produce through the Farmers to Families Food Box Program.
CDS Distributing, which received $1.55 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the program, has a contract to supply charitable organizations in the Bay Area, from the North Bay to Monterey, and the Central Valley from Sacramento to Fresno, according to a news release.
The boxes have 20 pounds of various fruits and vegetables.
“It is the perfect box for these organizations as it not only helps growers move excess supplies, but gets fresh food to the neediest”, Alberto Navarro of CDS said in the release. “We began deliveries (May 18), ranging from full truckloads to single pallets of 70 boxes.”
Each box from CDS Distributing has six different items. The company specializes in Northwest tree fruit, potatoes and onions.
“Many of these organizations do not have resources such as pallet jacks and forklifts to offload product,” Navarro said in the release. “While visiting the neighborhood I grew up in, my nephew and I jumped in and helped offload the truck and arranged for them to keep a pallet jack on loan.”
CMA CGM Group
Shipping and logistics CMA CGM Group has donated more than 200,000 face masks to the City of Los Angeles.
The company serves 19 U.S. ports with 93 weekly port calls, including 10 at the Port of Los Angeles, according to a news release. Some of the masks will be distributed to port workers.
In addition, the CMA CGM Group has brought relief to some of the most vulnerable communities around the world by donating more than 1.2 million masks as well as several tons of medical and hygienic supplies, emergency food assistance, storage containers, and educational support.
“The CMA CGM Group has nourished a close and sustainable relationship, based on trust and respect, with the United States for many years,” Rodolphe Saadé, chairman and CEO, said in the release. “As a leading company, our partnership reaches far beyond our business activity. In this very difficult period, it means a lot to us that we stand alongside the United States to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.”
FiveStar Gourmet Foods
Ontario, Calif.-based FiveStar Gourmet Foods, which received a $29.25 million contract from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program, is supplying food banks through its Naples, Fla., processing facility.
The company, which markets through the Simply Fresh brand, is packing boxes with Caesar Salads, Coleslaw Salads, Sweet Onion Broccoli Sauté Kits, Asian Stir-fry Kits, Almond Cranberry Salads and Crisp Sliced Apples, according to a news release.
“While not easy because of the massive scale of this project, and having only a few days to get it off the ground, it’s been very rewarding to know that our efforts will make a positive impact in so many lives, as well as helping our grower partners” CEO Tal Shoshan said in the release.
At a recent distribution through the program, more than 1,500 boxes went to families in a partnership with Feeding Florida and community partners at the True Deliverance Church.
“While not easy because of the massive scale of this project, and having only a few days to get it off the ground, it’s been very rewarding to know that our efforts will make a positive impact in so many lives, as well as helping our grower partners,” Shoshan said in the release.
Green Thumb Produce
Green Thumb Produce, Banning, Calif., has used walkie-talkies at its facility to communicate in the past, and sees them as a way to keep employees safer during the pandemic.
“We are being cautious because we are a production facility,” Patricia Balderrama, assistant human resources manager, said in a news release from HQ98.com. “It’s helping keep people safe, it helps keep the distance. They’re definitely beneficial already since they have them already.”
The company has eliminated cell phone use at the facility due to sanitation concerns, and the walkie-talkies bring immediate communication.
“It was a way to keep contact, but eliminate cell phones as well,” Balderrrama said in the release. “They are awesome and our company owner is so excited when he comes on-premises and sees everyone in constant contact.”
Lef Farms
Lef Farms, Loudon, N.H., has been donating greens to serve more than 25,000 people through area charities.
Organizations including Willing Hands, New Hampshire Food Bank, Vermont Food Bank, Stop & Shop (which sends food to healthcare professionals) in the New England region have received donations from Lef Farms, according to a company newsletter.
The company has also started a new service: Lef Curbside, which serves area residents who can pick it up at the Loudon facility.
The company’s clamshell products, as well as 1.5-pound family packs, are available during the 4-hour pick-up time on Fridays.
The company has also partnered with other area farmers to offer eggs and dairy products.
Potatoes USA
Potatoes USA is connecting with industry members through a new video series, Keeping It Current, to explain what the organization has been doing during the pandemic.
The first video, posted May 20, features Blair Richardson, Potato USA president and CEO, who describes the need for the videos.
“My objective today is to use this technology to officially inform you of what Potatoes USA is doing during this challenging time and how we are adapting our programs and activities to have the greatest positive impact on the potato industry,” he said.
Richardson said the organization realized that as restaurants and other foodservice outlets — which use 58% of all potatoes, including 85% of frozen potatoes — were shutting down in the initial weeks of the pandemic, a surprising number of people didn’t know how to cook or store potatoes a home.
“It was important that we reach out to them with simple educational tips,” he said in the video. “We launched a series of press releases and social media posts that were phenomenally successful.”
He said ongoing efforts by Potatoes USA and other groups have built “a lot of positive feeling about potatoes and launched many pro-potato conversations throughout traditional and digital media across the globe.”
A second video from May 28 features John Toaspern, chief marketing officer, discussing the changing markets in the U.S. and exports markets.
Washington State Potato Commission
Washington potato grower-shippers have donated a million pounds of potatoes that were grown for processing markets.
Those markets, such as the frozen French fries for foodservice operators, were lost in the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving growers in the U.S. with excess potatoes with nowhere to go.
The Washington State Potato Commission reported it was scheduled to surpass a million pounds donated at 11 a.m. Pacific June 2, as growers distributed 100,000 pounds in the Olympia area in a partnership with Freightliner Northwest. Consumers received bags of potatoes and food banks were able to pick up pallets of potatoes, according to the commission’s Facebook page announcing the milestone.
The commission thanked everyone who helped in the 1-million-pound effort.
“The volunteers, those who donated their space, their time, the donations to the GoFundMe account, the food banks that made the trips to pick up pallets of potatoes,” according to the Facebook post. “And to our growers, who have donated their potatoes to help those in need during this unprecedented time.
“It’s times like these we all need to come together to help your neighbor,” according to the commission. “We have all seen what amazing hearts people have and it has been a humbling experience for all of us involved.”
For more stories on what companies are doing to respond to the pandemic, see The Packer's COVID-19 webpage.