PHILADELPHIA— USDA’s Specialty Crops Research Initiative has awarded a $322,202 grant to two food marketing professors at Saint Joseph’s University’s Haub School of Business to enhance the mushroom industry’s viability by marketing mushrooms as a source of vitamin D.
John Stanton, Ph.D., professor of food marketing, and Neal Hooker, Ph.D., CJ McNutt Chair of food marketing, currently are conducting qualitative research to understand how and why people buy mushrooms and attempt to create marketing methods that encourage the purchase of mushrooms and specifically vitamin D mushrooms.
“The USDA spends a lot of money supporting and sponsoring traditional agriculture—corn, wheat, soybeans, livestock and eggs," Hooker said. “This grant mandates that we spend more money to support fresh fruits and vegetables. The government is trying to encourage us to eat healthier and that fits really nicely with food marketing."
The research and its findings will have implications for the industry as a whole. While the research currently focuses on mushrooms and vitamin D, the team will apply their findings to similar stories, such as selenium and carrots and lycopene with tomatoes.
