The Mushroom Council's inaugural "Swap It or Top It" summer promotion will challenge consumers to transform their typical summer grilling recipes into healthier versions, by adding mushrooms. The contest kicks off June 1 and offers participants a chance to win $5,000.  

"The trend is to blend" Mushroom Council President Bart Minor said in a press release. "Mushrooms and meat are a natural pairing, and this contest will elevate the concept with the consumer while increasing mushroom sales."

Summer grilling represents a huge opportunity for increased mushroom consumption, according to Minor, who added that with consumers looking for lighter fare, summer is an ideal time to create retail sales lift, increase shopper awareness and build shopper impulse purchases of mushrooms.

The contest is called "Swap It or Top It" because there are two cooking techniques with mushrooms that can add a healthy flair to summer favorites.

Swapping is the technique of blending finely chopped mushrooms with ground meat before cooking. By swapping 50 percent of beef in a burger with fresh mushrooms, it's possible to reduce intake of calories, fat and saturated fat by 24, 25 and 37 percent, respectively.

The other technique is to top dishes with mushrooms to add more vegetables to the plate, such as topping a turkey burger with roasted brown mushrooms.

"By supporting 'Swap It or Top It,' retailers can uphold promoting healthier choices to consumers at their market, which consumers continue to demand." Bob Murphy, vice president of sales and marketing at Premier Mushrooms, added in the press release.

Retailers can support the promotion to lift sales by stocking participating mushroom products, offering participating mushroom growers premium shelf space and by promoting the program via point-of-sale materials provided by the council.

The contest is in partnership with the Produce for Better Health Foundation and MyPlate, and will further amplify program awareness while drawing in the consumer with the use of each logo on all point-of-sale materials.

Encouraging consumers to Swap It or Top It using mushrooms is an important nutritional message in the movement to promote healthier eating with Americans.

The contest fully supports the MyPlate message of boosting consciousness around meal time. Creating a MyPlate burger will engage consumers with portion size awareness while developing healthy eating patterns.

Categories for entry include swapability/blendability, best topped burger and MyPlate burger. Consumers can enter one, two or all three categories. The top two recipes in each category will be put to public vote to determine the grand prize winning recipes.

With a total of $8,500 up for grabs, the grand prize winner will receive $5,000 in cash and gift cards. For more information on the contest, visit MushroomInfo.com.