A new sustainable sourcing collaboration between Univeg Group and Bayer CropScience has borne fruit, with the delivery of its first shipment of high quality grapes from India to Europe.
The companies described the first successful shipment as a milestone in cooperation between Univeg and Bayer to “develop and promote sustainable food chain partnership projects”.
According to Bayer, the initiatives will ensure Univeg is able to meet strict regulatory requirements in Europe in terms of food quality, safety, traceability and sustainability.
“We are fully convinced that safety and traceability of fresh produce help to ensure European consumers receive healthy fruit of the highest possible quality,” said Bayer CropScience’s senior key relations manager Ronald Guendel.
“We are well on the road to providing targeted and sustainable solutions to add value to the marketing of Indian table grapes on consumer markets.”
“The cooperation with Bayer CropScience in India has allowed Univeg to demonstrate our long term commitment to the country as a key source of high quality grapes,” said Univeg’s director of quality management, Ben Horsbrugh.
“The transparency and the control mechanisms of the Food Chain Partnership project have enabled us to restore the confidence of key Univeg customers in Germany and Austria in Indian grapes.”
Bayer and Univeg have collaborated on several grape-linked projects over the last three years in India, Chile and Spain, focusing on crop protection solutions, efficiency, food safety, and pest and disease management.
Bayer said it had also been able to increase the production of high quality Indian grapes in a sustainable manner by developing a ‘passport’ in local languages for growers for crop traceability and record management.
In a separate development, Univeg has signed a collaboration agreement with Syngenta, as will as a further cooperation deal with Bayer.
