Demand Blossoms For Avocados

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — For years, bananas have been advertised as the perfect food, but Steve Barnard doesn't think so.

"I think it's getting dislodged," said Barnard, CEO of Oxnard, Calif.-based Mission Produce, an avocado importer, packer and shipper. "I think the avocado is giving it a run for its money."

Global demand has blossomed for the green fruit, once considered an expensive luxury. Touted for its energizing nutritional qualities, the avocado has turned up on lists of super foods and as an Oprah favorite.

As Mission Produce ramps up to meet the demand, the company has been shipping about 32 million pounds of avocados a week — and that's just in the United States.

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