A new, dark purple tomato bred for its colour, taste, nutrtional value and yield has landed this year’s FRUIT LOGISTICA Innovation Award (FLIA), the fresh produce industry’s top prize for innovation.
Developed by Netherlands-based Syngenta Seeds, Yoom is described as rich in anthocyanins with a unique sweet-sour umami flavour. The trademarked variety also apparently offers lots of flexibility in terms of the production season and growing conditions, making it suitable for example to being grown under artificial light.
The winner was announced at a special ceremony held on the final day of FRUIT LOGISTICA, the world’s leading fresh produce industry trade fair, which took place on 5-7 February 2020 in Berlin.
Visitors to the fair voted for their preferred winner from a shortlist of ten, which itself had been narrowed down from more than 90 entries, the most in the competition’s 15-year history.
Jérémie Chabanis, Head of Syngenta Value Chain, said the plan for Yoom involved a global roll-out backed by significant investment in the brand. “This is great recognition for Syngenta, which is investing a lot of money in Yoom as part of its commitment to vegetable breeding in general,” he commented.
“Yoom is only available in some countries at the moment, so the next step is to be present on every continent. We are targeting countries in North America and Europe, ass well as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea and even China. Our ambitions are global.”
Polish packaging protecting the planet
Both the second and third prizes in this year’s FLIA competition went to Polish packaging companies for environmentally friendly innovations.
Silbo picked up the silver award for Compostable, Flexible, Printed, Packaging, a line of certified compostable, solvent-free packaging made with water-based inks and adhesives.
SoFruPak took home the bronze award, meanwhile, with its SoFruMiniPak® EcoView packaging, which combines renewable and 100 per cent biodegradable raw materials with good ventilation to ensure the products inside are kept perfectly cool.
Organised by FRUIT LOGISTICA and its official partner Fruitnet Media International, FLIA honours outstanding innovations in the entire fruit and vegetable supply chain from production to the point of sale.
Previous winners of the award include a red-fleshed kiwifruit from Italy, a non-pinking lettuce from the Netherlands, a seedless papaya from Israel, finger limes from Australia and a drinkable coconut from Spain.
Entries for the FLIA 2021 will open later this year, with the closing date for nominations due in mid-November.
