SALINAS, CA – April 27, 2020

Tanimura & Antle will begin shipping HarvestSelect boxes with an assortment of field-packed fresh produce to retail partners as part of grocery pickup and delivery programs. 

Each HarvestSelect box will include a minimum of eight different fresh vegetable products, as well as a weekly recipe card with usage ideas.  All product is USA-grown, and each carton will display a single UPC for simplified scanning.  Freshness and food safety are a high priority of this variety pack solution, and each carton will contain a PTI sticker for full traceability, including identifying pack dates and growing regions.

The USDA recently announced the Food Box Distribution Program under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.  Tanimura & Antle first started contributing their mixed boxes of produce to their employees and local community organizations.  Adapting to the USDA’s efforts, and in addition to its retail sales of the HarvestSelect box, Tanimura & Antle will expand its availability to the foodservice and wholesale markets to address speed, consistency and food safety to organizations that plan to distribute food under the new USDA Food Box Distribution Program.

Packing a variety of vegetables in a single box for employees is a longstanding holiday tradition at Tanimura & Antle.  In response to COVID-19, the company started packing a similar box for employees and their community’s essential workers to supply fresh, healthy food options during California’s shelter-in-place orders.  “After packing over a thousand boxes locally, emails and phone calls started coming in.  Our retail partners began requesting the option to carry these convenient packs in stores to help provide additional lift to the produce category and offer consumers a convenient and valuable produce option,” said Scott Grabau, President & CEO of Tanimura & Antle.

While continuing to donate fresh produce to the local community, Tanimura & Antle also reacted quickly to support their customers by developing a retail-ready box packed with an assortment of fresh produce. “Our HarvestSelect box promotes healthy home-cooking for families, with the convenience of being pre-selected and packaged,” said Grabau. “We’re really proud of the HarvestSelect box and can’t wait to begin seeing them at stores as soon as May 15^th.”