Most companies in the fresh produce arena now believe they have to innovate just to keep their heads above water: a far cry from the days of less than a generation ago when just keeping supplies coming through in the appropriate seasons was enough of a challenge.
There are many drivers for this innovation trend, not least intensifying competition in a rationalised sector - brought about largely by supermarket dominance. The whole fresh produce sector is constantly on the look out for a point of difference: suppliers to offer something that will get them the business, right through to the multiples that want to differentiate their offer and give their shoppers something they cannot find elsewhere. So it is fair to say that the supermarkets themselves have been drivers of innovation, both wittingly and unwittingly.
“There are certainly fewer of us left in the business and that has polarised the growers that are left,” says Chris Moreman of Barfoots of Botley, which specialises in the supply of sweetcorn and semi-exotic vegetables. “At Barfoots we are very proud of being one of the leaders and are tuned in to the need to keep being innovative. We believe that working with a product that is not mainstream, it is down to us to push the boundaries and make it more accessible; we know that there is more pick-up to be achieved with our products.”
Accessibility will be key to growing Barfoots’ market, therefore, and this involves new twists on its product presentation that have led the company into the prepared sector for both retail and foodservice customers. “Diced and sliced is another development for Barfoots, but we are looking at adding further value and par-cooking further down the line,” explains Moreman.
And the indications are good. “We are very pleased with the response to our food-on-the-go concept that was introduced at the Food & Drink Expo in March. This concept is aimed at the quick-serve, healthy marketplace. We have put together a food box that contains butternut mash, sweet potato mash, fresh sweetcorn and a rhubarb dessert. All of the products can be microwaved and are ready to eat within minutes, we see this as fitting well within both foodservice and retail. People will be able to use our par-cooked products in different compartments or as a whole box and that puts us in the arena of fast food. We are not there yet, but just flying the kite, in a sense, to see what is out there.”
Moreman believes the whole fresh produce industry should embrace innovative opportunities. “We all have a wonderful product range to work with,” he enthuses. And he is unequivocal about what will lead fresh produce ahead in the years to come. “Convenience, added value and healthy eating are going to be the drivers for the future.”
That the fresh produce industry has a wonderful product range is something one German company has only recently discovered, with stunning results. Transimpex was a general trading company specialising in rice and pulses until a juice producer it was contract-growing for wanted a full-coloured purple carrot.
“We found that for him and we also found BetaSweet carrots too,” explains Bernd Schmidt of Transimpex. “It all started with an e-mail to Dr Leonard Pike at Texas A&M University four years ago. After about 12 months of discussions we signed a licence agreement and began trials growing the carrot in Germany.” Transimpex holds the licence for Continental Europe, the former USSR and Israel and South Africa. There are five growers now producing under contract to Transimpex in Germany and they have 30-40ha under production of organic and conventional BetaSweet.
BetaSweet maroon carrots have been designed by Dr Pike and his team through traditional plant breeding using selective genetics to have 40 per cent more beta-carotene and anthocyanin - a recognised cancer preventive compound - and a higher sugar content to improve overall flavour. Most importantly, Dr Pike’s driver was an improved, almost apple-like texture aimed at increasing children’s consumption. Purple on the outside, but with traditional orange flesh, the product is known as the maroon carrot in the US.
At Transimpex, this initial foray into fresh produce has led the company into a broader vegetable range and it is now working more than 15 different lines for its convenience pre-grilled vegetable range. “With BetaSweet, we thought, lets just try this and see, now it has become a strategic part of what we do,” says Schmidt.
He is brutal about the drivers behind originality in the fresh produce arena. “Everybody is looking for innovation with a view on their profits,” says Schmidt. “The reason something will work is if end consumers are curious and open-minded and, if the product is healthy too, so much the better.”
The health aspect was certainly the reason for Dr Pike’s work on BetaSweet in the first place. “He wanted to introduce this to children as a healthy alternative snack to potato crisps and chips,” explains Schmidt. “And the focus of his research has been on breeding for healthy aspects as well as the sweetness element to attract children.”
Schmidt believes that the concerns with childhood obesity will continue to drive innovation in fresh produce in Europe. BetaSweet is already enjoying success in its loose and bunched form in the main markets of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and Transimpex is now working on bringing it to Belgium, the Netherlands, France and some eastern European countries.
Back in the UK, Worldwide Fruit is known for the innovation that it has brought the apple market, thanks to its links with Enza and HortResearch in New Zealand. “Innovation within our sector is vitally important, but to gain the all important consumer acceptance, consumers must be able to tell that the product is demonstrably different and better than their existing purchase,” says ceo Robert Mears. “Inevitably, innovations that meet this criteria do not come along that often, but when they do, you know you have a winner. Jazz is an excellent example of a product that delivers in a simply outstanding way. It is a cross between Braeburn and Gala - two of the most popular varieties - and consistently delivers in terms of taste, texture and appearance. Regrettably innovations of this sort will only come along about every 10 years or so, but we are constantly looking at some very exciting developments with other varieties and are confident that WWF will be able to deliver a steady stream of innovations in the years ahead.”
The firm’s progressive approach was recognised at last year’s Re:fresh Awards when it received the accolade for Chilean Fresh Fruit Association Innovation of the Year award for its development of RFID technology within its business. This development continues to improve its importance.
“One of our mission goals at WWF is to be our customers’ first choice,” says Neal Collishaw, logistics manager. “To succeed in our goal, we must be the best at everything we do. The innovation shown by the use of RFID shows we are committed to achieving our goals and being our customers’ first choice.”
As well as the more obvious benefits of the RFID system in terms of removing operational issues that were hampering the commercial relationship and increased on-shelf availability, the development of RFID technology has brought WWF other advantages, “It has promoted the WWF name throughout Europe and beyond our operating category,” explains Collishaw. “It has given us an insight for future developments with systems and technologies allowing more robust plans and decisions to be made when selecting new tools. It has opened new doors to issues once thought impossible to solve, arming our operation team with a whole new set of solutions to questions asked, but never before answered.”
The RFID project, developed with M&S, is being handed over to daily operational control, marking a significant step forward. The supermarket chain now has more than 20 food suppliers using the pick accuracy and verification (PAV) software and the largest RFID deployment of its kind is nearing conclusion.
WWF recognises that the fresh produce sector has been and probably always will be under pressure from customer pricing, leading to low margins and making it difficult to remain competitive. The challenge is even greater as firms now operate in the climate of fuel price and minimum wage increases on a yearly basis. “One of the few options left to us is robotics and automation, to help suppress the increasing manufacturing costs we are facing,” explains Dave West, operations manager at the Re:fresh award winning company. “This is not something new to other industries and some categories, but we feel it is the next big thing for our portfolio.
“We believe the future for our production techniques lies with robotics. We are at an advanced stage in the development and near deployment within our production technique. Developing robots to pick, place and be trained to select quality is proving quite a task, but we are confident we will overcome all the obstacles.”
Looking to the future, the development of PAV at Worldwide Fruit has certainly given the company a different direction when it comes to solving its problems and the confidence to use technologies not usually associated with produce. And West sums up the way forward: “We have to investigate, innovate and evaluate in order to move our production techniques forward allowing us to stay competitive.”
PACKAGING PEPPED UP BY STAR BOARD TURNS
As everyone seeks that vital point of difference, packaging increasingly has a part to play. The Institute of Packaging’s Student Starpack Awards this year showed that this is not a fact lost on the next generation of designers. Jenni Hiltunen, of Finland’s Lahti Institute of Design, came up with the vigorous fruit and vegetables project - clean and steam concept. Dubbed by the judges as “a novel use of treated carbon board” Hiltunen’s design provides a potentially interesting shelf pack, which can be used to wash, pack and then either serve, or steam and serve, its contents.
Meanwhile West Herts College’s Jacqueline Wharam designed an innovative and effective solution for organic fresh herbs making use of shape and natural colours for her corrugated packaging for the Smurfit UK Award for Consumer and Transit Packaging. Her design gave a complete new look to Sainsbury’s SO Organic fresh herbs.
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