Tribute to the Past, Present and Future of Food Innovation in the Garden State

WHAT:

WHERE: The Rutgers Food Innovation Center, 450 East Broad Street (Rt. 49), Bridgeton, NJ, 08302.

Reporters can:

• Interview innovative food entrepreneurs whose businesses benefited from Food Innovation Center services. These companies include Twin Hens, a producer of gourmet poultry pot pies; First Field, a producer of gourmet ketchup made of NJ-grown tomatoes; Jersey Naturals, makers of Mia Cucina marinara sauces, also made exclusively with New Jersey-grown tomatoes; Schär USA, the world’s largest producer of gluten-free products; Circle M Farms, which produces peach cider and salsa; and Chef Hymie Grande producer of a unique line of flavorful sauces and marinades made without high fructose corn syrup.
• Interview representatives of some of New Jersey’s pioneering food companies. These include Campbell Soup Company, innovator of canned condensed soup; Seabrook Farms, which was highly involved in the development of America’s frozen food industry; Cumberland Dairy, who pioneered US implementation of the Ultra High Temperature pasteurization process; and Violet Packaging, the largest and longest running fresh tomato canner in the US.
• Try out foods and beverages that the Food Innovation Center helped bring to market.
• View displays of the history of food innovation and packaging in New Jersey.
• Interview Sam Donovan, an artist who painted a commemorative mural that depicts all of the pioneering companies listed above, plus others. The mural can be viewed in the lobby of the center.
• Interview food and agriculture leaders, including New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher, Associate Vice President for Economic Development at Rutgers University Margaret Brennan, Food Innovation Center Director Lou Cooperhouse, and State Director of USDA Rural Development Howard Henderson. These leaders will also be speaking during a short formal segment of the program.
• Interview Food Innovation staff, who work with center clients.