The israeli fresh produce industry is hoping to capitalise on the increasing trend for “functional foods” with the development of several new fruit and vegetable varieties.
Professor Yoram Kapulnik, head of the Plant Sciences Institute at the country’s Volcani Center, told FPJ that the aim of a five-year project was to provide Israeli farmers with a wide selection of new varieties that incorporate safe food, quality, and health properties, while focusing on disease and pest-resistance to minimise the application of chemicals.
“Whereas in the past the emphasis was on improving the economic situation of the farmers, the approach now is that we have to take consumers into account: we have to respond to consumer preferences. The idea of functional foods was a vision that combined all these considerations and inspired our work,” he said.
The team first discovered the Tasty Tomato, a variety with high levels of lycopene, and this development opened up the way to finding a concentration of pigments in other crops, according to Prof Kapulnik.
In line with the country’s focus on sweet potato production, the centre has come up with six new varieties that differ in taste, colour, fibre and texture as well as carotenoid content and other health properties, some of which can be irrigated with saline water, making them suitable for cultivation in arid regions.
It has developed a new type of melon with a sweet-sour taste reminiscent of pineapple and a “personal pumpkin” full of starch and carotenoids, that can be cooked in a microwave.
Prof Kapulnik said that a new clementine-white grapefruit hybrid that is similar in size to a grapefruit has “ a very sweet taste, while maintaining the health properties of the grapefruit”.
The Plant Sciences Institute has also developed a new high-yielding pomegranate tree which bears fruit three times a year to keep up with strong winter export demand for pomegranate arils.
