POLAND & GERMANY – A new promotion program recently launched by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) aims to tell the story of high-quality U.S. food and drink products currently available on the European market. The program, called DelicioUS!, provides cooperator groups, like USA Rice, a great opportunity to connect with food industry representatives, retailers, and consumers across Europe in a cost-efficient manner.
As part of this initiative, USA Rice joined the FAS post in Poland to educate Polish importers and foodservice professionals on the benefits and application of U.S. rice.
“FAS Poland organized a creative, ‘live’ virtual tasting where registered participants received a portion of several dishes prepared with U.S. food products including rice, delivered by courier to their homes,” said Eszter Somogyi, USA Rice director for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. “We also took part in a video series on
Facebook, as part of this initiative, recorded with a local celebrity chef creating recipes with several U.S. food products. The episode featuring U.S. rice was released last week, showing Asian-inspired recipes, like sushi, with U.S. rice and fish products from the Alaska Seafood Institute.”
Parallel to this effort, USA Rice collaborated with FAS Berlin on an article published on the
DelicioUS! website that highlights the U.S. rice industry’s sustainability and conservation story. Sustainability is an increasingly important topic among European consumers. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, high income consumers are making more conscious choices about buying food products that are not only good for themselves but also good for the environment.
“We are very excited to partner with European FAS posts in these efforts, and look forward to working together to spread the word on the availability and high-quality of all types of U.S. origin rice,” said Somogyi. “The program’s tagline, “DelicioUS! -- United in Quality,” reflects not only the diversity and quality of U.S. agricultural products produced by U.S. farmers, fishers, ranchers, and foresters, but also the values of American agriculture.”