ConAgra Foods' Healthy Choice frozen entrees partnering with Bravo's 'Top Chef' reality TV show on line of entrees, to be sold by major food retailers beginning in late September; deal includes sponsorship of 'Top Chef Healthy Showdown' original series

Cindy Allen

NEW YORK , September 12, 2011 (PRNewswire) – Today, Bravo and Healthy Choice®, a brand of ConAgra Foods, Inc., announced the launch of the largest integrated marketing partnership in their respective histories.

Bravo's Top Chef and Healthy Choice have teamed up to introduce an exclusive line of great-tasting dishes that combine Top Chef's culinary expertise with the innovative steaming technology of the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers entrees. These entrees will be available in major grocery retailers beginning in late September. The Top Chef Inspired Cafe Steamers feature bold, modern and exciting flavors providing a great, fresh-tasting meal in minutes. The partnership also includes:

A competition-based original web series, Top Chef Healthy Showdown, to air on BravoTV.com, which challenges former Chef'testants to bring their healthy A-game to a contest where the winner will become the "Flavor Ambassador" for the Healthy Choice brand. The web series premieres on September 14, 2011.

Integration into the upcoming Top Chef: Texas through the series prize partnership, an elimination challenge, and as an episodic prize partner.

Future product launches inspired by Top Chef.

"This partnership builds upon the success of both the Top Chef franchise and the Healthy Choice brand and provides a unique opportunity to connect with consumers," said Frances Berwick, President Bravo and Style Media. "We're constantly developing ways to engage our fans and viewers beyond the television screen, and this collaboration will take Bravo to the next level while jointly elevating and strengthening both the Top Chef and Healthy Choice brands."

"Bravo is always looking for ways to constantly innovate, furthering the proliferation of the brand while bringing value to our viewers and advertising partners," said Jennifer Turner, Vice President, Licensing & Strategic Partnerships, Bravo Media. "The Healthy Choice partnership is a great example of leveraging all parts of the network to partner with an advertiser to jointly bring quality products to market."

Both Top Chef and Healthy Choice pride themselves on combining exciting flavors and carefully selected ingredients to give consumers exactly what they want - food that is both healthy and delicious. The Healthy Choice Top Chef Inspired Cafe Steamers will bring consumers frozen entrees with flavorful ingredients such as roasted garlic, asparagus and grilled eggplant. Whether consumers are in the mood for Roasted Chicken Marsala with mushrooms and sauteed onions or Grilled Vegetables Mediterranean with whole grain rice and barley, these entrees are sure to receive high marks from any judge.

"Top Chef is known for inspiring consumers with great tasting meals. This line of Top Chef Inspired Cafe Steamers combines unique ingredients with our proprietary steaming technology into meals that aim to satisfy any palate," said Carlos Veraza, Vice President & General Manager, Healthy Choice. "We work tirelessly to inspire consumers with a variety of great tasting, better-for-you frozen entrees. Healthy Choice is proud to partner with Bravo Media to bring consumers a wide variety of meals that capture the essence of Top Chef flavor, with the healthy attributes and great taste consumers expect from Healthy Choice."

Healthy Choice offers a variety of meals to satisfy any taste. For more information on the various Healthy Choice product lines, visit www.HealthyChoice.com . For special offers and up-to-the-minute information, stay in touch with the brand online: "Like" the brand on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/healthychoice ) and follow Healthy Choice on Twitter ( www.twitter.com/Healthy_Choice ). Healthy Choice is a brand of ConAgra Foods, Inc., CAG -1.09% one of North America's leading food companies, with brands in 97 percent of America's households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Marie Callender's, Orville Redenbacher's, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, Snack Pack and many ConAgra Foods brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise and club stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business presence, supplying frozen potato and sweet potato products as well as other vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. For more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com .

Bravo is a program service of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been an NBCUniversal cable network since December 2002 and was the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980. For more information, visit www.BravoTV.com . Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BravoPR .

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