Florida Tomato Growers Kick off Season with Culinary Art Contest

MAITLAND, Fla.--(Business Wire)--
This fall, the Florida tomato growers will conduct a 15 market
tomato art contest and tour to kick off the 2008 season and
reintroduce America's most popular tomato, the Florida field-grown
tomato, to consumers throughout the Eastern United States. The Florida
Tomato Culinary Art Tour will bring a tomato art exhibit and mini
tomato festival to major food retailers and food service operators to
showcase the beauty, exquisite taste and nutritional benefits of
Florida grown tomatoes. Local celebrity chefs and art contest winners
will be in each market as well doing what they do best - cooking with
and painting tomatoes.

The Florida Tomato Committee is launching its Florida Tomato
Culinary Art Tour in an effort to restore consumer confidence in
tomatoes after the Salmonella scare over the summer where tomatoes
were initially suspect, but then FDA lab tests later confirmed other
sources. As part of the tour, consumers will be educated about
measures Florida tomato growers have instituted to ensure the safety
of Florida field-grown tomatoes, including new packing and sanitation
practices.

The Tour will also allow the Florida tomato growers to directly
reach and get involved with consumers in key markets via sampling,
exhibitions and local publicity.

In addition to the Tour, the Committee has launched an aggressive
15 media market campaign plan incorporating public relations and radio
and print advertising. The print advertising effort includes half-page
advertisements in Parade Magazine - which will be distributed to 62
newspapers throughout the Eastern United States - with messaging that
supports Florida tomato growers long-standing commitment and
dedication to providing generations of families' tables with quality,
flavorful tomatoes grown in the rich, fertile soils of Florida.
Florida tomato growers will also provide partnering grocery retailers
with free 20-second tags on radio spots in each market -- 770 radio
spots delivering 6.2 million listeners. Along the tour, print and
broadcast media in each market will be visited with tomato cooking
ideas, information and interviews with growers and packers, as well as
... tomatoes, of course.

Target media markets include: Portland (ME), Boston, Albany, New
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte,
Greenville, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, and Miami.

For the art contest, a panel of influencers will select 15
winners, each from different cities. Each winner will receive $1,000
and qualify to win a Grand Prize of $2,000. The winning art will be
auctioned to benefit the Produce for Better Health Foundation.

For more information on The Florida Tomato Culinary Art Tour and
art contest, including contest rules, please visit:
www.floridatomatoart.com. Food retailers wanting to get involved in
The Florida Tomato Culinary Art Tour, please contact: Samantha Winters
at Samantha@floridatomatoes.org.

About Florida Tomatoes and the Florida Tomato Committee

Fresh, Florida field-grown tomatoes are the premiere tomatoes of
America. Grown throughout Florida's rich farmland, these prides of the
south gems are field-grown for freshness, flavor, firmness and
texture.

The Florida Tomato marketing order regulates the handling of
tomatoes grown in Florida, and is administered locally by the Florida
Tomato Committee (Committee). The Committee consists of twelve members
and twelve alternates who are all tomato growers in Central and South
Florida and are appointed each year by the U. S. Secretary of
Agriculture. Under the order, the Committee establishes and enforces
quality and packing standards on Florida fresh market tomatoes. It
also supports research and education and conducts a well-rounded
education and promotion plan designed to increase per capita
consumption of fresh Florida tomatoes.

Florida Tomato Committee
Samantha Winters, 407-660-1949
Samantha@floridatomatoes.org
www.floridatomatoes.org

Copyright Business Wire 2008