LEAMINGTON, ON - Spring has come and with it a host of retail and promotional programs across North America. One of these campaigns is launched by the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) in Canada and aptly named “Spring into Flavour.”
Fiona McLean, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, took a few minutes to speak with me about the annual campaign and what retailers across the country can look forward to this season.
“Our spring campaign educates the consumer on availability of our greenhouse tomatoes, peppers, and seedless cucumbers and features new recipes on how to include Ontario greenhouse vegetable into meals,” Fiona tells me. “All varieties of Ontario tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers are available in local grocery retail stores and are in full production in Ontario.”
Currently there are six Ontario retailers participating in the “Spring into Flavour” campaign for 2016. Each retailer has committed to tomato, pepper, and seedless cucumber flyer ads indicating “Product of Canada.” Loblaw, Metro, Food Basics, Sobeys, Longos, and Walmart are currently promoting the program and OGVG is welcoming other retailers who would like to partner.
With the increase in consumer healthy eating habits, more tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers are becoming an ideal choice for snacking. Tomatoes are a good source of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that has been clinically proven to reduce the harmful effects of UV rays as well as reducing the risk of some cancers, she notes.
“Tomatoes are also an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, dietary fiber, folate, magnesium, and potassium,” Fiona adds. “We encourage produce department members to educate consumers on greenhouse produce across the board.”
Peppers are also high in nutrition as an excellent source of Vitamin C with over 250% more Vitamin C than citrus fruits by weight. In addition to Vitamin C, peppers are a good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Dietary Fibre, Folate, Magnesium and Potassium.
In addition, Seedless Cucumbers are made up of 90% water and are an excellent source of vitamin C, dietary fiber, magnesium, potassium, and silica. The most nutrients are stored in the peel of the Seedless cucumber, which is completely edible, so eat it in its entirety if you’d like.
The spring program runs from April 4 to May 29, 2016.
