Bill Litvin, vice president of sales and national account manager for Giorgio Fresh Co., headquartered in Blandon, PA, said the company is pleased to be exhibiting at the New England Produce Council Produce & Floral Expo 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Newport Hotel & Spa on Sept. 11.

“Brian Threlfall, executive vice president of sales and marketing, Doug Steward, vice president of sales and I will be at Booth No. 528,” said Litvin. “We are excited to promote Giorgio’s new line of stuffed baby bellas during the NEPC Expo. The new line, which features three different stuffings: Cheese and Imitation Bacon, Imitation Crab, and Artichoke and Spinach, are available in retail packaging. They were also recently launched for foodservice applications.”

Imitation Crab stuffed baby bellas are just one of the new products flavors from Giorgio Fresh. The others are Cheese and Imitation Bacon and Artichoke and Spinach.Litvin noted that the company’s stuffed baby bellas offer satisfying-yet-light lunch or dinner options, and they are easy to prepare from the oven or off the grill as a delicious appetizer.

This new product line blends great health benefits with great taste to satisfy every consumer’s palette.

Litvin explained that the hot industry trend of blendability — also referred to as “the trend to blend,” continues its steady growth.

“We believe this can be attributed to the increased promotion of this concept by supermarket dieticians and others, and to an increased use in foodservice applications,” he said. “For example, mushrooms were approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for Kindergarten through grade 12 as a commodity ingredient in school lunches to blend with proteins for lower fat and lower saturated fat products, but with better flavor. We look forward to seeing all the ways mushroom blendability continues to grow in popularity.”

Giorgio Fresh Co. is a fully integrated grower-shipper of fresh mushrooms. It produces whites, browns, portabellas and various exotics along with organic whites, browns and portabellas. It also offers gourmet wild, dried and value-added products. 

Being a fully integrated operation, Giorgio Fresh controls every step of the process — from growing to distribution. Its mushrooms are grown, hand-picked and processed in state-of-the-art packing facilities under strict quality control. Giorgio is SQF Level 3 and MGAP certified, and all mushrooms are grown using IPM-certified procedures. They ship from three locations — Blandon PA, Toughkenamon, PA, and Saltillo, Mexico — covering the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest and Southwest United States, as well as northern Mexico.

“We are looking forward to the New England Produce Council Expo,” noted Litvin. “We have many valued customers in New England with who we are looking forward to spending time at this event.”