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Sat Nov 21 22:14:13 PST 2009

NEWS

Wichita Named Top Salad City

Press Release

Thursday, November 19, 2009 Hold the steak. A study by the world's largest producer of fresh fruits and vegetables suggests that Wichita residents may actually prefer salad. The internal study, conducted by Dole Fresh Vegetables, ranked Wichita among the top salad markets in the United States. This means that local residents eat more salad per person than their counterparts in other U.S. cities, have the potential to eat more salad and/or are more likely to try new salad blends, experiment with salad and salad ingredients in the kitchen or serve salad as a meal. Dole Fresh Vegetables is a subsidiary of Dole Food Company, Inc., the world's largest producer of fresh fruits and vegetables. The exhaustive, 18-month research effort, part of the company's relaunch of its reinvented DOLE Salads line, surveyed the in-store buying habits and in-home consumption trends of prepackaged salad consumers throughout the United States and Canada. "Despite its reputation for meat and potatoes, Wichita is among the most sophisticated salad markets in the country and home to an increasing number of salad lovers," explained Russell Evans, senior brand manager for Dole Fresh Vegetables. "Our research found that salad consumers here are much more likely to use salad as a meal or as the basis for creative new lunch and dinner entrees. From a salad standpoint, Wichita is a trendsetter." As part of its ongoing mission to get Americans eating salad again, and facing new evidence showing that Americans are less interested in salads at a time when the latest health research suggests they need them the most, Dole this month launches its re-imagined bagged salad line designed to reignite the country's fascination - and consumption of - fresh, prepackaged salads. The reinvented DOLE ® Salads hits supermarkets in the United States this month and in Canada in November 2009 as one of the most ambitious salad relaunches in history, complete with 32 separate blends and nine salad kits. Highlights of the redeveloped line include a new pinch-and-pull, Easy-Open salad bag; the DOLE Salad Guide, the first-ever on-pack rating of the taste and texture characteristics of each salad blend; and a new "Pairs well with" section featuring serving suggestions and a recipe unique to that blend. The redeveloped line is being introduced via a comprehensive multimedia campaign featuring a new Dole Salad Guide spokesperson. Dole will be specifically targeting salad consumers in Wichita.

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