Intevation Foods says eating your vegetables "got just more fun."
Eating your vegetables? Truth is, not enough people are meeting recommended daily requirements. Now one company is bringing a solution to the table, new Crunchtables™, that succeeds in providing whole vegetables -- in a unique format that is still familiar, wholesome and nutritious.
That's how Intevation Food Group LLC, Plover, Wis., talks about its new retail line of "crouton-coated" vegetables.
"Consumers always have dressed up salads with croutons and salad dressings," says Tina Arend, Intevation's director of R&D. "We developed a coating system around the crouton concept and then discovered a method for lightly coating the vegetables.
"The result is a crunchy, crispy vegetable that delivers on flavor, texture, and nutrition," she says. "In fact, we've decided to place our nutrition info on the front of the box because the numbers are so unbelievably positive".
Arend says Crunchtables start with whole Grade-A vegetables. Then Intevation applies a lightly seasoned coating, which allows the vegetable to show through -- while it still delivers a crunchy and tasty eating experience. The new line includes Sweet Baby Carrots, Broccoli, Green Beans, Zucchini, Mushrooms and Pickle.
A 30-year food industry veteran, Dan Horan is Intevation's vice president of sales and marketing.
"As Americans try to manage snacking and move toward improved nutritional choices, we must remember that food must deliver on taste -- first and foremost. We think of Crunchtables as a 'stealth health' product because it delivers great taste and better nutrition."
Officials say All Crunchtables offerings contain fewer than 200 calories per serving, are low in sugar, and low in saturated fat (because they're quick cooked in trans-fat free canola oil). And when it comes to nutrition, Crunchtables Sweet Baby Carrots, for example, deliver 150 percent of a consumer's RDA of Vitamin A. Crunchtables Broccoli delivers 50 percent of the RDA of Vitamin C.
Intevation offers frozen Crunchtables products in 10-ounce cartons at a suggested price of $2.49.