Specialty Potato Alliance Adds Organic Fingerlings & New Retail Package

Mountainside, NJ – Specialty Potato Alliance (SPA) announces the addition of organic fingerling potatoes to its extensive family of products. “This is an incredible opportunity to expand our market reach and broaden our retail platform”, stated Mark Pittenger, managing team member in charge of sales and marketing. Pittenger acknowledged that this new product will aid in extending sales into Canada where pommes de terre biologiques are a heavily requested retail item.

The new organic fingerling potatoes have been cultivated in California and Colorado by Alliance members and partners. Scott Pursel, a SPA member/farmer with Lehr Brothers in Bakersfield, CA, has been working to bring this new product to market with a multi-season availability. Certified by CCOF, the mix of organic fingerlings will initially be Russian Bananas, French and the Alliance’s proprietary Rockey Rose variety. “We have been working hard since 2009 to increase our yields to accommodate a vibrant year-around program. We’ve accomplished this with our conventional fingerlings and we should be able to duplicate those efforts with our organic program within two years.”

The new retail packaging chosen by Specialty Potato Alliance will be the recyclable Fox Combo Ultra Shield™ potato bag. The added benefit of this special breathable potato bag is its two-layer black and white poly film side that prevents nearly 100% of visible light and 90% of ultraviolet light, dramatically decreasing potato greening and ensuring a longer shelf-life. Jill Overdorf, a managing team member of the Alliance explains that the new bright green bag not only protects the delicious contents from greening, but also compliments the existing red bag used to package their well-established traditional fingerlings. There are other colors in design to further expand SPA’s retail line of specialty potatoes.

The new organic packaging and potatoes made their world premier at the PMA Foodservice conference in Monterey, CA, July 29-31, 2011. Displayed in the new product showcase at the event’s exposition, the bright green 1.5 lb. bag debuted with it’s distinctive green tractor logo. SPA will also be offering the organic mix of fingerlings to all tiers of foodservice with packaging in 50 lb., 20 lb. and 10 lb. cases.

For more information about Specialty Potato Alliance, the new 1.5 pound organic fingerling package and SPA’s complete family of products, please contact Mark Pittenger or Jill Overdorf at 908.913.1600

Source: Specialty Potato Alliance