United Fresh Chairman of the Board Steffanie Smith addresses attendees at this week's Fresh Convenience Congress in London.

United Fresh Chairman Steffanie Smith and United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel launched the inaugural Fresh Convenience Congress Wednesday, focusing on the role of fruits and vegetables within the prepared and fresh convenience segments.

The Congress was established in partnership with Market Intelligence, publishers of Eurofruit Magazine, and provided attendees with educational sessions exploring foodservice, retail and mass catering opportunities at mainstream venues such as sporting events and concerts, which represent new channel development and increased consumption on a global scale. Additional sessions looked at food safety and traceability for the fresh-cut produce and emerging fresh convenience sectors of the industry.

In addition to Smith and Stenzel, multiple United Fresh members addressed the Congress, including board member Paddy Callaghan of Nature's Best, who spoke on the offerings of the fresh-cut convenience sector to retail operations, and Alessandro Turatti of Turatti Srl, Bas Groeneweg of PerfoTec B.V., and FTNON's Wilco Fauth, who combined on a session dedicated to packaging and processing equipment innovations.

In her address, Chairman Smith encouraged attendees to "look closely at [their] internal processes to increase yield and quality, communicate effectively with your customers to meet their needs and seek unique opportunities in new product development no matter what business sector or commodity you represent within the industry."

United Fresh Vice President of Membership Jeff Oberman sports an American World Cup soccer jersey during this week's Fresh Convenience Congress. The Congress was suspended Wednesday afternoon to allow attendees to watch the English and American soccer teams play in the final match of the World Cup's group stage.

Additional United Fresh presence included Jeff Oberman, United's vice president of membership and staff liaison for the Fresh-Cut Processor Board, who moderated the packaging and machinery innovation session and in a bold move, donned an American World Cup soccer jersey for that day's final group stage match against Algeria, as well as Miriam Miller, United's director of membership and staff liaison for the Wholesale-Distributor Board who networked with UK- and EU-based distributors in attendance.

For more information about the Fresh Convenience Congress, visit www.freshconveniencecongress.com or contact Jeff Oberman at 831-422-0940