California-based Mission Produce has developed a best practices guide for avocados, with one version aimed at retail and another for the foodservice sector. 

The retail guide contains handling practices, merchandising tips and consumption data, while the foodservice guide contains food safety practices, cutting and storing recommendations and menu insights.

They also include a chart showing the different stages of ripening and the subtle physical differences between Hass avocados from different production regions.

“Ripe avocados have grown to be one of the top five items in the produce department and we want our retailers to fully capitalize on the trend. Our best practices guide, AvocaDOs and DON’Ts, equips them with additional tools to make that happen,” director of sales Patrick Cortes said.

“We also want to make sure we are providing the same type of insights to our foodservice operators, who have their own set of avocado handling challenges.

"Mission’s avocado best practices guides provide all of our customers the information they need to manage their avocado category.”

Director of marketing Denise Junqueiro said the company's goal was for the guide to be relevant to all levels, including a vice president, buyer, store produce manager or chef.

"We want everyone to find it useful," she said.

Mission Produce will have the AvocaDOs and DON’Ts guidebooks on hand at PMA Fresh Summit, booth 644, as well as complimentary assets including backroom posters and infographics.

They can also be mailed upon request and found online here.

Two pages from the foodservice version of the guide

Photo: www.shutterstock.com

www.freshfruitportal.com