"US (CA): "Cool Factor" program hitting home as summer heat arrives"

Along with the arrival of the first day of Summer and excessive heat in many parts of the country, there are challenges in the produce department keeping berries and other produce items cool. Thankfully, the trade has shown positive response and viewership of California Giant’s new training videos available on You Tube.

“Practicing proper cold chain management is critical to the profitability of our fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. Training is essential, and with the summer heat here, it is even more important to keep berries refrigerated while on display,” explains Anthony Gallino, VP of Sales for California Giant. “The videos have already been viewed hundreds of times on YouTube, as well as requested on flash drives so we hope our retail partners will continue to share the information with their store level personnel and maintain the cold chain for best quality for our consumers,” Gallino continued.

To further the message about the importance of keeping berries cold, the company also added verbiage to clamshell labels this season stating their berries are “Best if Kept Refrigerated”. This statement was added after many consumer inquiries about the fact that berries were not being displayed under refrigeration. California Giant received several direct comments such as “My wife says, Leave the berries out, It doesn't say they need to be refrigerated, especially since the store didn't have them cold".

Trade response continues to be positive for the video material with continued viewings on the California Giant You Tube page accessed through several trade press links and mobile phones using the QR code link. There are two videos focused on cold chain management and best practices at store level which can be accessed directly at http://www.youtube.com/user/CalGiantBerryFarms/videos or through the company website at http://calgiant.com/videos/#trade

For more information:
Cindy Jewell
California Giant
Tel: +1 831 728 1773
[email protected]
www.calgiant.com