GUADALUPE, CA - Eat Smart® brand provider Apio, Inc. had joined the industry ranks looking to help where they can in the recovery from Hurricane Irma. The company has sent 28,000 Eat Smart salads, or approximately 114,000 salad servings, to victims of the Category 4 hurricane.
“The hearts and minds of all of our employees are with those affected by this disaster,” said Molly Hemmeter, President and CEO of Landec, Apio’s parent company. “Apio operates a facility in Vero Beach, Florida. Our facility was shut down temporarily during the power outage, but we are once again operational. Most importantly, we are grateful that our employees and their families were unharmed. We want to thank the SOS Foundation and the South Florida Red Cross for partnering with us to distribute fresh vegetable salads to those in need during this difficult time.”
The donation is set to arrive in Homestead, Florida on Monday, September 25th, directly from the company’s Bowling Green, Ohio, facility. The company said in a press release that it is partnering with the SOS Foundation and the South Florida Red Cross to distribute these salads to those in need. This comes on the heels of the company’s donation of 24,000 salads to the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas.
As we reported previously, the storm left millions of Floridians without electricity and has impacted several agricultural categories, including citrus, tomatoes, green beans, peanuts, and cotton. Since then, evaluations of damages wreaked both in Florida and the Caribbean have amounted to over $62 billion.
