Courtesy Monterey Mushrooms

This award-wining design is friendly to the environment as well as to the mushrooms and consumer, according to Monterey Mushrooms.

The solution to that equation turned out to be the winner of the 2011 Impact Award from the Produce Marketing Association.

Officials announced the Watsonville, Calif.-based company as the recipient of an Impact Award at the recent Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit in Atlanta. The award recognizes packaging innovations with the same four variables that Monterey Mushrooms considered when creating its new designs.

The new packages replace Styrofoam with a domestically-produced corrugated paperboard that conforms to the Food and Drug Administration’s standards for food safety, according to a news release from the company.

Company president Shah Kazemi said in the release the packaging took "many months” to develop because it had to protect the mushrooms while maintaining flavor and freshness.

New graphic designs on the corrugated trays focus on health benefits, usage and versatility of mushrooms. Colorful labels also show meal suggestions.