Tomato Products Wellness Council

Conducted an entire audit of the nutrition care manual ncm to find all outdated references, and revised three parts of the ncm to reflect the "all forms count" message on vegetables, including tomatoes. This manual is the primary reference for hospitals that have consequently been advising patients to avoid processed tomato products when they were checking out of hospitals.

Monitored industry and nutrition news. Developed and implemented communications strategies including news releases, newsletters, statements and presentations. Addressed public misinformation about the need to limit processed tomato consumption, such as the hospital dietary guidelines. A noteworthy example was the bpa article in consumer reports that named canned tomatoes the #1 food to avoid. Within a few days we had worked with the author and the editor to update the article to admit that bpa has already been removed from 95% of the retail canned tomatoes and that consumers could simply search for bpa free labels if this was a concern. Any time these articles appear tpwc responds immediately calling them inaccurate and irresponsible, resulting in a steep decline in these types of articles.

Received block grant from cdfa to help promote california processed tomatoes by utilizing social media and working with influencers to create content, messaging and telling farmer stories to ultimately help increase consumption of tomato products.