Produce Growers Are Coming for Your Kids on TikTok

The industry thinks social media is the next big thing for marketing fresh food.

TikTok can be especially helpful for local farms.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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Produce growers are bringing their fruits and vegetables to their consumers, not at a farmers market but on TikTok.

It started with a baked feta pasta recipe that made its way onto TikTok in January 2021 and went viral on the social media platform. In the videos, home chefs roast cherry tomatoes, olive oil and feta, add herbs and cooked pasta and the recipe went viral online and in grocery stores. Cherry tomato sales went up about 29% that week, according to the International Fresh Produce Association’s data. News organizations also widely reported that feta cheese was difficult to come by. Today, the tag #bakedfeta has 127.7 million views.