Bill Litvin, vice president of sales and national account manager for Giorgio Fresh headquartered in Temple, PA, said that the company has exhibited at every New York Produce Show since its inception, and this year is no exception. The company will be at Booth No. 448 at Pier 94 on Dec. 10-12.

“This is a great show with outstanding support from the retail community and the grower-shipper side,” said Litvin. “And New York City is certainly a pull for people because of the festive time of the year.”

He said that Giorgio will be promoting its new line of stuffed Portabella Mushrooms. The line includes Portabella Mushrooms stuffed with Cheese and Imitation Bacon Bits, Portabella Mushrooms stuffed with Imitation Flavored Crab and Portabella Mushrooms stuffed with Parmesan Cheese, Artichokes and Spinach.

“Each package features four large stuffed portabella caps per tray, and they are packed four, eight-ounce overwrapped trays,” Litvin added. “We will also be featuring our Stuffed Crimini, vitamin D enhanced mushrooms and sustainable tills for show attendees.”

Food safety and traceability is very high on Giorgio’s list of important details, and it has its initiatives and certifications in place perfectly.

“The Safe Quality Food Institute [SQFI] certified Giorgio for Safe Quality Food [SQF] Level 3; the highest level attainable,” said Litvin. “SQFI is the leader in providing the world’s most widely trusted food-safety and quality certification program. It is part of the Food Marketing Institute, an association that conducts programs in food safety, research, education and industry relations on behalf of its 1,500 member companies around the world. Our farms are all MGAP certified. In fact, we grow 99 percent of all the fresh mushrooms that we sell.”    

He added that when it comes to food safety, Giorgio does a good job of educating its customers about its state-of-the-art facilities and procedures.

“We also encourage our customers to visit our facilities to see how we operate,” he added. “It has always been a great sales tool to see our operation and our people up close.”

Giorgio was founded by Pietro and Elvira Giorgi in 1928. The company’s newly relaunched website, giorgiofresh.com, offers a plethora of information, including its interesting history, its culture, tradition, philosophies and its commitments.

“We are also excited to announce our official expansion into the social media world with brand new social media accounts for Giorgio Fresh Co.,” Litvin noted. “Over the last few months we’ve worked carefully to craft Giorgio Fresh Co.’s vision in order to expand our reach to our target audience. The goals for our social media efforts include building brand awareness, strengthening our marketing strategies and promoting audience involvement and sharing.

“Giorgio is engaging its customers in new ways and getting positive feedback on our Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram accounts,” he continued.

“We look forward to our pages becoming a source of expertise with posts about recipes, product knowledge, company and industry information, giveaways and more.”