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| HEADLINES (Click on headline for full story): | February 12, 2008 |
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EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY FOR TABLE-STOCK GROWERS INTERESTED IN EXPORTING TO SOUTHEAST ASIA The Food & Hotel Asia Show is being held at the Singapore Expo, April 22-25, 2008. The United States Potato Board (USPB) will have a US potato booth at the show and invites all interested US table-stock growers, shippers and their importers to join the USPB pavilion. Food & Hotel Asia is Asia’s largest international food and hospitality event. This biennial show had over 37,000 trade visitors and exhibiting companies at the April 2006 show. For more information, please visit www.foodnhotelasia.com. Located in the USA Pavilion, table space in the USPB booth is limited, so respond as soon as possible to ensure your place. This is a great opportunity to meet potential customers in person and represent the United States among companies from all around the world. If you are a new exporter to Southeast Asia, this is a great opportunity for you to learn about the market and meet the trade that is interested in purchasing US potatoes. If you are a current exporter to Southeast Asia, we encourage you to attend with your local importer. If you do not attend and your local importer is still interested, they are welcome to participate for only $250.00. For only the cost of your hotel and airfare, you receive many benefits including:
Don’t miss this exciting opportunity! If you are interested, please contact Sarah Mahler at sarah@uspotatoes.com or 303-873-2334. FRESH POTATO EXPORTS TO MEXICO CONTINUE TO INCREASE IN FY08.
US DEHYDRATED POTATOES GRACE THE SHELVES OF UPSCALE FRENCH BAKERY (IN JAPAN)! Chez Bigot is the pioneering bakery that brought authentic French bread to Japan. Now Chef Jiro Fujimori has invented two new varieties of pastry made with US dehydrated potatoes. Looking and tasting delicious, both are creating quite a sensation. “Plenty of places have made pastries with potato fillings and toppings,” explains Chef Fujimori. “But we wanted to do more than just that. We wanted to showcase the allure of ‘potato pastries’ in which the potatoes themselves take center stage. What we came up with was this pair of items.” And so in October, two new pastries — Focaccio Pomme de Terre and Potato Galette — went on sale at Bigot. The focaccio consists of bread dough with mashed potatoes, bacon, and corn kneaded in, plus layers of dehydrated sliced potatoes inside and on top. The whole pastry is then baked golden-brown. The galette consists of croissant dough with a spurt of mashed potato purée, topped with dehydrated shredded potatoes and baked in the oven. Chef Fujimori has long believed potato and bread make a great combination. This latest experiment has made him more confident of that than ever. “Kneading potatoes into the dough endows it with a trace of sweetness and gives it that soft, moist texture so distinctive to potatoes. The result is the type of flavor that Japanese love.” “Another thing I discovered: potatoes and béchamel go very well together. Salting is also important. To achieve the right balance, you should use dough that’s as salty as possible but leave the flavor of the potatoes natural and unadorned.” These two creations seem to have tickled the fancy of Philippe Bigot himself, generally no great fan of breads with various ingredients baked in. He was so intrigued he even asked for the recipe. “Mr. Bigot has his own definite ideas, and he doesn’t waiver very much from them. So when we try something new, he usually doesn’t think much of it. But this time, things are different. He considers these two stylish pastries quite worthy to grace our stores,” concluded Fujimori. So now that these potato pastries have Philippe Bigot’s stamp of approval, it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for US dehy in French pastries. US Potato Bread Fair Promotional Info  The two pastries on display during the Potato Pastry Fair
More JYAGAPAN launched in Japan! (Jyaga = Potato; Pan = Bread) Boulangerie, a newly opened retail bakery in Tokyo, has heard about the outstanding benefits of incorporating US dehydrated potatoes into bakery items! After receiving dehy samples from the USPB and working with their local distributor, they have developed two new types of “Jyaga Pan” or “Potato Bread” - plain potato buns and corn potato buns. Boulangerie has found that with the inclusion of dehy, they get a totally new texture – “a springy texture which provides a sensation of fullness with a small bite”. They are also inspired by the shelf life improvement they are experiencing and think it may contribute to more efficient production in the bakery. Working with local importers and distributors has been a key to success in getting Japanese bakeries to utilize US dehy. They are now providing smaller packages, 1 kg, to bakeries instead of 25 kg bags. Bakeries learn about the technical characteristics of dehy and the benefits of utilizing US dehy in baked goods through USPB educational materials and seminars throughout the year. “Potato Bread Fair” promotional materials have also been developed for bakeries to utilize in their stores to enhance the sales of the items with US dehy! All of these activities contribute to the increasing exports to Japan which reached 18,413MT (2,639,043 cwt fresh weight equivalent) in fiscal year 2007 (July 2006-June 2007). USPB Promotional Poster highlighting “potato bread” and US potato nutrition!
USPB PARTICIPATES IN US AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID) PREVENTATIVE WORKSHOP SPEAKERS’ SERIES World Vision (WV), a private voluntary organization (PVO), based in Washington DC, invited the USPB to participate in an HIV/AIDS workshop in December 2007. As a result of a 2005 demonstration project in Zambia, WV experienced first hand the results of incorporating US dehydrated potatoes in their feeding program and wanted to share the benefits of utilizing dehy with other PVO’s and government agencies. Cade Fields-Gardner, a dietitian who has 21 years work experience in the area of nutrition in HIV/AIDS, was the lead speaker. She has worked in the areas of nutrition program development and implementation, community and clinical research, and education and training in this specialty. Fields-Gardner focused on the potential role for potato products, both fortified and unfortified, to meet nutritional needs and support problem-based management of nutrition-related issues in HIV/AIDS care and treatment. USPB International Marketing Manager, TK Kuwahara, introduced the audience to the USPB, discussed ways in which the USPB International Food Assistance Initiative (IFAI) could assist them with their food security programming and provided an overview of the benefits of utilizing dehydrated potatoes in US food assistance programs. The highlight for the audience was the hands-on portion where they were able to rehydrate dehydrated potatoes and taste them in finished recipes which were developed in the field. The menu consisted of the following items chosen to highlight various benefits of dehy in food assistance programs: Mashed potato bar with ground fish, ground nuts, pureed papaya, sugar, milk As a result of participation in this workshop, the USPB has already received an invitation from another large, PVO to present at their upcoming HIV/Nutrition Workshop where they will be training their overseas staff from Moldova, Egypt, Cameroon, DR Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Nigeria, Haiti, Guatemala, Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Vietnam, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, Senegal, South Africa, India and Guinea. The IFAI has had excellent success despite the immense bureaucratic and other hurdles in front of it. To date, 9,200 metric tons of dehy (equivalent to 1,318,590 cwt of raw potatoes) have been purchased with a value of $8,610,250.87. There are additional purchases currently in the pipeline and new applications being both reviewed and submitted that include more dehy.
Even the caterers got excited about the use of dehy in international food aid and were enthusiastically explaining to participants how this mimics IFAI training in the field. For example, the USPB used spinach in the potatoes, but in Zambia, the USPB would probably use dried pumpkin leaves which are readily available and would increase the nutrition for the beneficiary.
WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THOSE BUSTER BROWNS?! Price Shoes, a chain of big shoe stores in Mexico, with eight stores throughout the country, is now offering US fries in its in-store food court. This represents an important success for the USPB as this is a new channel where US potatoes are being sold. Hopefully other similar food courts will see the success and follow in their footsteps. US FROZEN POTATOES ADDED TO THE MENU OF ANOTHER CHINESE RESTAURANT
PIERCE AND POTATOES When asked by Bon Appetit’s Bekah Wright if he had any other favorite foods, Brosnan responded, “ Potatoes – baked, mashed, roasted, boiled or fried with cold sliced tomatoes. I can’t live without a good potato. And Irish (potato) soda bread, hot from the oven.” You may be thinking, ‘what exactly is Irish potato bread?’ Check back at www.potatounderground.com regularly and you may find out just in time for St. Patrick’s Day!
The current issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray features a gorgeous shot of a huge baked potato on page 81. It's the intro shot for the "Ready, Set, Cook" section and the copy says "Tip: Easy does it. No need to prick potatoes before microwaving -- just let them steam inside their skin.” USPB QUARTERLY SALES TOP LINER – Q4 Attached are the top line results for the key potato segments for Q4 2007 and a cumulative for the year. The USPB is completing the full analysis which will be available in several weeks. From a pound standpoint, the fresh supermarket volume rebounded slightly from Q2 and Q3. Russets, which still command the lion’s share of the volume, did have a -1.6% pound decrease in Q4; all other varieties, except whites, posted a pound increase, but not enough to offset the russet decline. From a package size standpoint, five-pounders were the primary size contributing to the decrease. Q4 pounds for frozen foodservice pound results might be alarming, but as we have footnoted, last years Q4 was a 14 week period vs. a 13 week Q4 in 2007. Quarterly Sales Topliner 2007 Q4.pdf NEW RESEARCH DATA AVAILABLE SOON The USPB will shortly be receiving the 2007/08 National Eating Trend Report, and the Attitude and Usage Report -- valuable information that helps us develop programs that reach and influence the consumer. The USPB will also, as mentioned above, be completing the full review of 2007 potato sales performance, all types, in all channels. We are gearing up to report on this information, Tuesday, March 11, 2008 on the front end of the USPB Annual Meeting at the Westin Tabor Center, 9:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. If you’re coming to Denver, you’re invited to attend. HEALTHY MR. POTATO HEAD™ RETAIL PROGRAM TO EXPIRE Just a reminder, the retail portion of this program expires December 31, 2008. Hopefully the remaining 11 months will allow any shipper with packaging, etc. to use your inventories. CHIP SEMINAR – ORLANDO, FL – MARCH 5-8 Great speakers, great opportunity to network. Time is getting close. Brochure, registration form attached, if you’re planning on attending, take a minute and fill it out today!! Chip Seminar 2008 Brochure.pdf Chip Seminar 2008 Registration.pdf DEHY BAKERY APPLICATIONS RESEARCH NOW COMPLETE The American Institute of Baking (AIB) has completed their work on the bakery applications for dehy in muffins and frozen dough. The muffin applications look very promising, and the USPB is awaiting AIB’s final analysis and report within the next 2-3 weeks. Pending favorable results, the USPB will then work with the industry on how to communicate the findings to all potential bakers. |
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©2007 United States Potato Board |
Shanghai Onion is an up and coming, trendy restaurant featuring Chinese cuisine, especially Canton style. The chain was established in 2005 and now has eight stores, all located in the main commercial area downtown or by big shopping malls. The chain's annual sales reached $13.8 million in 2007, and they have plans to open another six stores in Shanghai in 2008.
The USPB representative in China first visited the restaurant in October 2007 to introduce US frozen potato products and explain the USPB's programs and available assistance. From this, the Executive Chef invited the USPB to give a detailed seminar to him and his staff. In November 2007, an on-site training seminar was held at one of the restaurants, and five dishes featuring US frozen potato products were demonstrated. After the training, the restaurant chose to use Crinkle Cut fries and developed the dish with fried fish. Customer response has been very good, with 27,200 servings ordered in the first month, which required 75 cases of US frozen Crinkle Cut fries.
