KINGSVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA - Mastronardi Produce® continues to deliver on flavor and innovation within its SUNSET® Bombs® product line. Loyal consumers of the Bombs line will be thrilled by the latest addition: Bahama Bombs™, a bright orange grape tomato on-the-vine.

“Mastronardi Produce has a long record of driving growth across categories through expert innovation, and snacking tomatoes are our specialty,” said Dean Taylor, Vice President of Business Development. “Sugar Bombs have been wildly successful since their launch in 2018, and we’re confident that Bahama Bombs will bring excitement to the category.”

Bahama Bombs are a sister variety to the acclaimed Sugar Bombs® variety and boast the same ultra-sweet flavor but with a vibrant orange hue. The variety first debuted at SEPC Southern Innovations, with products hitting store shelves in March.

As the company outlined in a release, On-the-vine tomatoes represent the fastest-growing segment of the snacking tomato category.

The Bombs lineup now has six SKUs and continues to tap into what shoppers consistently ask for when they're looking for high-flavor snacking items. The lineup has become so popular it was even featured in a recent article by The Wall Street Journal about designer produce.

“This special sister variety was developed in collaboration with a valued seed company partner and we knew we had a winner when they presented us with this variety,” added Taylor. “Mastronardi Produce’s investments in R&D along with our partner relationships that span several decades are key to what sets us apart.”

Currently, the greenhouse grower has over one million square feet of global trial space dedicated to research and development, with approximately 500 promising new varieties on trial at any given time. Since Bahama Bombs performed exceedingly well under trial, it was pushed to market under the Bombs snacking line.

Retailers are invited to “Taste the Tropics™” at booth #1130 during the upcoming CPMA Convention and Trade Show.

Keep reading AndNowUKnow as we cover the latest in all things fresh!

WENATCHEE, WA - As we celebrate the Earth today and all it gives, I had the opportunity to sit down with Stemilt Marketing Director Brianna Shales to talk about how sustainability took root—literally—long before the term was coined and curated for the public.

“For our team, this goes back to 1989 when a television report shocked and scared the public in regard to chemicals being used in fruit. Our leader at the time, Tom Mathison, pledged to find new practices and limit our chemical use as much as possible. In that same year, we also began to invest in organic growing ahead of any large-scale programs of the kind, truly pioneering steps that are a standard practice today,” Brianna reflects.

Those steps planted roots which have spread out into a true caretaking culture, branching to everything from literal land stewardship like bee-friendly farming and the unique concept of Kyle Mathison’s Stemilt Hill Compost Farm to the canopy of sustainability by safe labor practices and energy saving practices.

“Things like integrated pest management, water monitoring, and investment in better ways of growing are so ingrained, but at the same time we are constantly looking for ways to be better and to continue that pioneering spirit Tom started us with,” Brianna reflects.

In this way, she alights specifically on Kyle’s composting practice.

“Not only is this a unique way to give back to the land and mitigate waste, it gets our community involved in contributing to the growth of the food that comes back to them,” Brianna says with a smile.

Twenty-three acres are dedicated to composting green waste from Stemilt facilities, orchards, and the local community yard waste through a disposal center called Stemilt Organic Recycling Center, she explains. The waste is churned into a nutritionally balanced compost that fits the needs of the specific orchard, with compost applied on organic or conventional orchards, depending on the compost type.

Set up as an intricate local network, everyone surrounding Stemilt’s operations can opt to utilize curbside green waste bins and are encouraged to join in converting waste into compost alongside the grower’s packing facilities and orchards. The very epitome of Earth Day.

Going beyond the soil, Stemilt certified its owned orchards in 2021 as Bee Friendly Farming through the Pollinator Partnership. This certification ensures Stemilt is promoting and protecting the health of bees and other pollinators.

“We planted over 400 acres of native wildflowers, bee forage, and made water available, dedicating three percent of our owned acreage to pollinator habitat,” Brianna tells me.

In addition to nature’s workforce, the company looks after its own under its Equitable Food Initiative certification as well.

“Stemilt is the only tree fruit company to be fully certified with the Equitable Food Initiative and their Responsibly Grown Farmworker Assured program,” Brianna points out. “All of our company-owned orchards and warehouses have active Leadership Teams working on continuous improvement practices. We certified our first orchard in 2020 following a pilot program, and achieved EFI certification across our entire operations in 2021.”

To dig deeper into the data, EFI certification assures retailers that Stemilt orchards and warehouses are producing fruit according to 300 rigorous standards for responsible labor practices, integrated pest management, and food safety.

All branches of a caretaking culture deeply rooted in and committed to the Earth making this all possible. And is that not exactly what Earth Day is all about?