MISSION VIEJO, Calif. (May 9, 2022) – The Hass Avocado Board (HAB) is hosting the next installment in its complimentary industry webinar series, on May 26, 2022, from 1:00 p.m.-1:30 p.m. PT. The webinar, “Leveraging the Avocado’s Nutrition Story to Drive Demand,” will educate attendees on highlighting the nutritional benefits of avocados to help drive demand using ready-to-use resources from HAB’s Avocado Nutrition Center and Love One Today®.
Hosted by Dr. Nikki Ford, HAB’s Senior Director of Nutrition, and Gina Widjaja, HAB’s Director of Marketing and Communications, the webinar will explore how the pandemic has changed consumers’ health priorities, what factors drive avocado purchases, and the Avocado Nutrition Center’s research focus.
Attendees will come away from the webinar educated on resources that can be used by marketers and retailers alike to communicate the nutritional benefits of the avocado to help keep them at the top of the grocery list.
The upcoming webinar is another way in which HAB is equipping the entire Hass avocado industry for success by ensuring that the latest in nutrition research and resources is easily accessible by all.
About the Hass Avocado Board The Hass Avocado Board (HAB) exists to help make avocados America’s most popular fruit. HAB is the only avocado organization that equips the entire global industry for success by collecting, focusing and distributing investments to maintain and expand demand for avocados in the United States. HAB provides the industry with consolidated supply and market data, conducts nutrition research, educates health professionals, and brings people together from all corners of the industry to collectively work towards growth that benefits everyone. The organization also collects and reallocates funds to California and importer associations to benefit specific countries of origin in promoting their avocado brands to customers and consumers across the United States.
Fresh Hass avocados, as well as all other raw fruits and vegetables, became eligible for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements for the “Dietary Saturated Fat and Cholesterol and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease” health claim, earning the difficult-to-achieve American Heart Association Heart-Check Food Certification.
2021
BOLD Program
The BOLD initiative is a leadership development program designed to help train the next generation of HAB board members and avocado industry leadership. By equipping BOLD participants with training that they need to meaningfully contribute to the HAB board and to advocate for the avocado industry, HAB is investing in its future success.
2020
Quality Improvement
Helping to ensure fruit quality across all countries of origin led HAB to create a set of best practices for each step in the supply chain. The Avocado Quality Manual is the #1 download from the HAB site. The focus on quality provides substantial value to the collective industry as it seeks to deliver consistency and exceed customer and consumer expectations – one avocado at a time.
2013
Fresh Avocados – Love One Today®
Armed with a deep bench of highly credible nutrition research findings, HAB launched Love One Today®, a leading source of the healthiest reasons and tastiest ways to enjoy fresh avocados. The Love One Today® efforts that are still going strong today have helped to educate countless registered dietitians, health professionals, and consumers about the nutrition benefits of fresh avocados regardless of country of origin or seasonality, and ways to include them in everyday meals – literally changing public perception of the fruit and removing consumption barriers.
“Love One Today® has changed public opinion of avocados. Avocados were perceived to be a high-calorie fruit that had to be consumed in moderation. Today they are known as a nutrient-dense, heart-healthy fruit that you can enjoy and feel good about it.”
Emiliano Escobedo, Hass Avocado Board, Executive Director
2010
Avocado Nutrition Center
As the American palate was developing a taste for avocados, it was coming with some caveats around concerns about fat content and nutritional benefits. Could something this tasty really be good for you? HAB launched the Avocado Nutrition Center (ANC), a world-class nutrition research program to find out. During the past two decades, more than 40 nutrition studies conducted independently by researchers at top-tier institutions have been funded delving into the unique benefits of avocados on heart health, diabetes, weight management, cognitive function and more. The highly credible and transparent nutrition research findings have proven powerfully favorable for the little green fruit. In fact, the heart health-related studies helped avocados meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s definition of a “healthy” food. Without the ANC, most of the research into the avocado as a whole food wouldn’t exist.
“Time and time again trends circle back to nutrition, and as studies continue to fill the pipeline, we realize we are just scratching the surface of our understanding of how nutritionally dense and dimensional the avocado is for mankind.”
Scott Bauwens, Former Chairperson, Hass Avocado Board and CEO, Simpatica
2014
Hass Avocado Committee
The Hass Avocado Committee created a venue for discussion of motions at the committee level before going to the board for the final decision. Under this structure, domestic and foreign representatives now had a voice and input on important matters that came before the board, as well as a platform to solve industry challenges together. The Hass Avocado Committee was and remains a revolutionary step in building trust and fostering cooperation among competitors for the greater good.
“Becoming an independent organization meant we could own the vision. We had to build better relationships. The Hass Avocado Committee started with dialogue and bringing people together to broker cooperation. It took a lot of persistence.”
Bob Schaar, Former International Representation Committee Chairperson and Avocado Grower, California
2014
Avocado Volume and Inventory System (AVIS)
While the concept of data sharing is as old as HAB itself, in the early days, the quality was hampered by the pervasive mistrust among the HAB partners. Yet, over time as collaboration and cooperation evolved, so did the credibility and quality of the data inputs. The key players saw the value and built the Avocado Volume and Inventory System (AVIS) which became a widely successful global industry intelligence engine providing invaluable information related to U.S. avocado supply, inventory and sales.
“The information coming out of HAB on volumes is fantastic. HAB does a great job of listening and responding to our consumers and has done a very good job informing the industry on who our customers are and how to grow our business. We as marketers use this information to grow the entire avocado category and we share this information with our customers.”
While the concept of data sharing is as old as HAB itself, in the early days, the quality was hampered by the pervasive mistrust among the HAB partners. Yet, over time as collaboration and cooperation evolved, so did the credibility and quality of the data inputs. The key players saw the value and built the Avocado Volume and Inventory System (AVIS) which became a widely successful global industry intelligence engine providing invaluable information related to U.S. avocado supply, inventory and sales.