Chilean food industry players and government agency representatives gathered in the capital Santiago this week to celebrate a recent U.S. campaign to help boost knowledge about their country's products.

The "Foods from Chile, Source of Life" campaign was undertaken by state marketing agency ProChile two weeks ago in the U.S. cities of New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Miami.

The initiative involved popular national and international chefs who made recipes using just Chilean products, with more than 25 to choose from including salmon, trout, dried fruits, lemons oranges, cherries, grapes and avocados.

The chefs participated as ambassadors for Chilean products with various side activities including cooking classes, and dinners wtih bloggers and tweeters.

ProChile director Felix de Vicente told www.freshfruitportal.com the campaign was focused on making the most of country-of-origin for Chilean products. He highlighted they met the highest quality and safety standards, and were free from pests and bacteria due to Chile's natural barriers of the Andes and the Atacama Desert.

"In the North American market, for a large part of the products they consume, with the exception of wine, it is hard to know where they come from," he said.

"It has been determined that approximately 70% of the buying decision is influenced by the origin of a product. Chile has gained status in terms of safety, but we want that the final consumer recognizes the origin, knowing to distinguish what is Chilean and what is not."

He added the promotion was backed by scientific studies conducted by different universities and research institutes, showing the superior quality of certain products.

"For example, there is a study that measured the amount of antioxidants in our blueberries and then we compared with blueberries from other countries. The result, almost double the amount of antioxidants than the competitor, so these values are what we want to inform the public of through our ambassadors."

Chile Image Foundation executive director Blas Tomic said his group's relations with ProChile were close and active.

"It has been an excellent campaign, with the work of a formidable and coordinated team, and at the foundation we are happy that ProChile has given us the role of support, and I believe part of the results have been thanks to our support and work," he said.

"We are a power in the quality and variety of what we produce and this campaign is made to stress these attributes."

www.freshfruitportal.com