Tom Vilsack, U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary, has appointed new members and alternates to serve on the Hass Avocado Board. The appointees will serve three-year terms ending Oct. 31, 2018. HAB has also unveiled a new, responsive website.

The appointed producer members are Scott Bauwens of Los Angeles and Elaine Veyna de Bannatyne of Fillmore, CA, and the producer alternate members are Benjamin F. Van Der Kar of Carpinteria, CA, and Pamela Tahim Thakur of Fullerton, CA. The appointed importer members are Debbie Willmann of Riverside, CA, and Javier Medina of Pharr, TX, and the importer alternate members are Heath Shoup of Murrieta, CA, and Jose Antonio Castro Echecopar of Rockville, MD.

HAB's new website, LoveOneToday.com, and SaboreaUnoHoy.com, its Spanish sister site, are designed to reflect and support the lifestyle of avocado lovers everywhere. Now English- and Spanish-speaking food and wellness consumers, health professionals and scientific researchers alike can find the information and inspiration they need at any time, from any device.

“The new website embodies who we are and what we do,” Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the Hass Avocado Board, said in a press release. “The creative shift we’ve made adheres ‘Love One Today,’ which encourages Americans to include fresh avocados in everyday healthy eating plans and to love them each day, to a more concrete lifestyle or mantra, which we’re really proud of and hope others will adopt as they make healthy choices daily. It’s the center of HAB’s Love One Today food and wellness education program.”

The new LoveOneToday.com and SaboreaUnoHoy.com display all new lifestyle and product photography, along with enhanced content across a variety of topics, including:

• Easy-to-sort recipe sections based on nutrition per serving and dietary needs, including: vegan/vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free and low sodium.
• Expanded nutrition content searchable by HAB’s health pillars: hearth health, weight management & Type 2 diabetes and healthy living.
• A “how-to” section with info on picking, ripening and storing an avocado.
• Info on the avocado’s journey from farm to plate.

Additionally, a refined mini site for health professionals allows health practitioners and communicators to easily access information about the emerging science behind the goodness of avocados, download free nutrition materials and stay up to date with the Avocado Goodness blog.

The blog provides health professionals with tools and topics relevant to their profession such as avocado culinary inspiration, tips on creating and maintaining healthy habits, avocado research and innovation updates, and other community news related to health and nutrition in general.

“With this website refresh we’re headed in a more cohesive direction,” Escobedo added. “HAB can now fully promote the site knowing it demonstrates the ‘Love One Today’ brand at every turn.”