Not everyone gets to experience the rich earthy fragrance of a farm field in summer or the gentle, yielding tug of a tomato as it’s pulled from the vine. Some of us have had the pleasure of rummaging through a roadside vegetable stand, but many of today’s consumers feel alienated from the foods they eat – not knowing where it came from or how it was grown.
To help change this, Furmano’s – a family owned, Northumberland, Pennsylvania-based food company – is working to bring consumers just a little closer to the farm and help them rediscover the goodness of some of their favorite foods.
Furmano’s has redesigned its label to highlight their local family farms and give shoppers a better sense of the nutritional content of fresh-packed produce. They’ve also developed an‘Our Growers’ section on the website where consumers can meet Furmano’s growers and see how the tomatoes are grown, harvested and packed.
“Consumers are looking for greater transparency,” said Chad Geise, President of Furmano’s. “I believe that the ‘Buy Local’ movement stems from people wanting to support the local economy, have fresher tasting food and food that is safe – to not have to worry about the origins of the food they’re feeding their families. Consumers feel it’s becoming increasingly more important to know where their food comes from.”
At Furmano’s 80% of their fresh-packed tomatoes are grown in Pennsylvania. Half of that is grown on farms less than a 20-minute drive from the plant. The rest come from fields no more than 4 hours away in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. This means that tomatoes can be canned within hours of harvesting.
“Our products are 100% natural,” said, Geise. “We redesigned our label to highlight this. We put our nutritional information up front and let our consumers know we work only with trusted family farms – and we’ve been doing this since 1921. When it comes to making a choice about what you put in your shopping cart, this is information people want to know.”
A newly redesigned label that better serves the consumer is just one more way that Furmano’s is bringing people closer to the farm.
About Furmano Foods
Furmano's is a family owned company founded in 1921 by JW Furman and his wife, Emma. Nestled in the heart of Pennsylvania’s fertile Susquehanna Valley, Furmano’s grows and produces quality foods, including canned tomatoes, beans and vegetables. Over the years the company has grown; currently serving the retail grocery and foodservice segments with more than 10 million cases of product per year. Still, Furmano’s remains committed to the family values and traditions on which it was founded 93 years ago.
Release Contact:
Yvonne Derr
Furmano Foods
1-800-952-1111 ext 534
yvonne.derr@furmanos.com