Over the past two months, consumers in Seattle, Wash., Palo Alto, Calif, and Austin, Texas had the chance to taste curated salads featuring Conscious™ Greens. The team has been meeting people at arts festivals and community summer fests, getting direct feedback on how consumers liked the unique, nutrient-dense greens and what they thought about the use of gene editing technology to grow the new varieties.
"Our goal was to talk to real people and to get real reactions. Through these events, people have tried over 6,000 samples of various Conscious Greens blends, and the response has been fantastic," said David Ferman, Brand Marketing Lead. "Consumers love that they no longer have to compromise between something colorful, flavorful, and nutritional. Attendees at the events were surprised and excited to see Conscious Greens alongside the sea of fried foods; finally, there is a healthy, fresh option. "
The sampling events re-enforced that people are craving innovation and something different. The team sampled two different salad styles, and offered consumers a choice of a deep green blend or a luxe purple and green blend.
In a survey commissionedby Pairwise, when it came to technology acceptance -less than 1% of 3,000+ survey respondents had anything negative to say about gene editing or the use of technology for food innovation.
"Many more consumers than expected have some knowledge of gene editing and CRISPR, and we received quite a few positive comments from consumers excited about our use of technology to accomplish our mission of building a healthier world through better fruits and vegetables," said Ferman. "It was a common response for people to ask for a larger portion or to demand to know where they can purchase."
Conscious Greens blends will be available in2023 at select retailers and restaurants.
