Apio has partnered with the SOS Foundation and the South Florida Red Cross to donate 28,000 Eat Smart-branded salads, or approximately 114,000 salad servings, to victims of Hurricane Irma.
Regions of Florida and the Caribbean were hard hit by Hurricane Irma, which reached land on Sunday 10 September as a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 130 miles per hour. The storm deposited record amounts of rainfall, causing loss of life, massive flooding and infrastructure damage.
'The hearts and minds of all of our employees are with those affected by this disaster,' said Molly Hemmeter, president and CEO of Landec, Apio's parent company. 'Apio operates a facility in Vero Beach, Florida. Our facility was shut down temporarily during the power outage, but we are once again operational.
'Most importantly, we are grateful that our employees and their families were unharmed,' she said. 'We want to thank the SOS Foundation and the South Florida Red Cross for partnering with us to distribute fresh vegetable salads to those in need during this difficult time.'
Hurricane Irma has caused damage of over US$62bn, leaving an estimated 16m people were without power. In the span of two weeks, two Category 4 hurricanes – Harvey and Irma – struck the continental US, the first time this has happened in one hurricane season.
Several weeks ago, Eat Smart partnered with the Houston Food Bank to donate 24,000 salads to the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
