Eat Smart's New Southwest Vegetable Salad Kit Packs A Punch

GUADALUPE, CA — Consumers love enjoying restaurant-quality salads in the comfort of their home. They’re also increasingly eager for convenient, nutrient-rich choices. The new Eat Smart® Southwest Vegetable Salad Kit, available from Apio, Inc. in September, answers the call. This delicious salad joins Apio’s innovative line of chef-inspired gourmet vegetable salad kits — elegantly easy salads recognized for their sophisticated blends of superfoods, distinctive flavors, and culinary flair. “Many consumers are looking for healthy eating options that are easy to integrate into their busy lives,” said Anne Byerly, Apio’s Vice President of Marketing. “This hearty, superfood-packed salad delivers an appealing taste experience that busy consumers can prepare in a snap.”

Featuring the ever-popular tastes, textures, and flavors of Southwest cuisine, the all-in-one kit is a tasty gluten-free blend of five superfoods — savoy cabbage, red cabbage, radishes, carrots, and kale. This powerful combination of vegetables is enhanced by crunchy corn, yellow and blue tortilla strips, cheddar cheese, and a chipotle ranch dressing.

The new Southwest salad kit joins Eat Smart’s popular gourmet salad line including the best-selling Sweet Kale salad kit in North America1, a gluten free Wild Greens & Quinoa, and a unique Beets & Greens vegetable salad kit. “Our gourmet vegetable salads provide consumers with delicious, highly nutritious, restaurant-caliber salads that they probably wouldn’t have time to create from scratch. Everything they need is right in the bag,” said Byerly. “In our recent survey, nine out of 10 consumers who had tried one of our gourmet salad kits said they would buy it again2. The Southwest Vegetable Salad Kit gives them another good reason to keep coming back for more.”

The Southwest Vegetable Salad Kit comes in 10-ounce and 24-ounce bags.

About Apio, Inc.

Apio, Inc., was founded in 1979 by five growers of celery in the Santa Maria Valley on the central coast of California, and named “Apio” for “celery” in Spanish. Today the company is the leader in processing and marketing fresh-cut specialty vegetables in the United States. Headquartered in Guadalupe, California, Apio sells its specialty vegetables and party tray products under its Eat Smart® and

GreenLine® brands. Apio’s fresh-cut vegetables are the only retail products that utilize the Landec Corporation BreatheWay® proprietary breathable packaging technology to extend the shelf life of specific produce. Landec Corporation (NYSE: LNDC), a polymer science and specialty materials company based in Menlo Park, California, acquired Apio in 1999. For more information about the company, visit Apio’s website at www.eatsmart.net.

Sources

1. Nielsen Perishables Group FreshFacts and Nielsen Canada MarketTrack data, 52weeks ending June 2015.

2. Online survey of 7,500 purchasers of Eat Smart salad kits, April 2015.

Source: Apio, Inc.