Fred Recchiuti, general manager Basciani Foods Inc., headquartered in Avondale, PA, told The Produce News that the company will celebrate its 90th year in business in 2015. The company is a fourth-generation mushroom farm that was founded by the grandfather of Michael Basciani, who serves as company president today.

“One of our primary focuses continues to be in finding and implementing ways to reduce costs by increasing efficiencies on the growing end of our business,” said Recchiuti. “Our attention is on energy reduction, labor reduction and other overhead areas.”

The company is also keenly conscious of sustainability, and it continually looks for ways to reduce its carbon footprint.

“We’ve been urging all of our foodservice customers to switch from white-colored corrugated packaging to Kraft colored,” noted Recchiuti. “This reduces the use of chlorine, which contains cancer-causing dioxides. We are in the process of eliminating the use of chlorine as a sanitizer on our farms and switching to ozone systems.

Mario D. Basciani, now in his mid-80s, on his horse in 1954, then serving as president of Basciani Mushroom Farms.He also mentioned that some cities in the country have switched their municipal water to ozone systems for the same reason. It is more effective, it leaves no residue and it’s safer for consumption.

“Reducing your carbon footprint means reducing your chemical footprint,” said Recchiuti. “The result is a win-win for everyone.”

Basciani Foods has joined the mushroom industry’s fight against childhood obesity through the Stealth Health initiative. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has changed the K-through-12 school lunch program to require that half of the plate contain fruits and vegetables.

“But they soon learned that you can put vegetables on a plate but you can’t make kids eat them,” explained Recchiuti. “This is one of the reasons why we feel that the Mushroom Council’s ‘Swap It or Top It’ initiative can present an outstanding opportunity. Surveys have proven that 88 percent of kids prefer burgers that are 50 percent meat and 50 percent chopped mushrooms, rather than what is referred to as the 100 percent ‘pink slime’ they get with a 100 percent beef burger.”

Blending mushrooms with meat also has sustainability advantages. Recchiuti pointed out that it takes 4 percent of the carbon emissions to grow a pound of mushrooms compared to producing the same one-pound of ground beef. And it takes 98 percent less water to grow a pound of mushrooms than it does beef.

Recchiuti also acknowledged that it takes a long time, a lot of education and constant reminders to get consumers to change their grocery shopping habits. When home cooks buy ground beef, chicken or other protein it’s easy to forget to pick up a package of mushrooms to practice swapability in the meals they serve their families.

“This is why we would like to see meat processors give consumers a choice in the meat department of their grocery store,” he said. “The display of ground beef should have a display of a 50-50 mushroom-beef option next to it. This is a sure way to get the message into consumers’ brains. Today’s educated consumers know they would be getting a healthier product that is less expensive but more delicious.”

Basciani Foods had always been exclusively a mushroom producer, but it is now venturing into a new produce item. It started Basciani Blackberry Farm last year and has a small amount of commercial volumes to offer this year.

Recchiuti explained that the company has been hauling blackberries for other companies for a while, during which time they have learned about the market and production.

“There is an import gap on blackberries in July and August,” Recchiuti explained. “The farm is 20 acres and is located here in Avondale. It’s our inaugural [venture] into a product other than mushrooms and we’re enthusiastic about it. This year’s crop is good, but volumes should pick up nicely by next year.”