Agrexco has upgraded its pomegranate-processing site in Israel to increase capacity and keep up with strong winter demand for fresh-prepared arils.
The arils first appeared in Marks & Spencer last year as part of the retailer’s ‘healthy living’ salad.
Agrexco sales manager Michael Caddy said since then, the market has continued to strengthen on the back of burgeoning demand for convenience. “The cut-fruit sector has grown immensely and its growth is a result of the convenience side of things. People do not have the time or inclination to peel or cut things and some products are difficult to prepare,” he said.
The machine to extract arils was developed four years ago by the by the Volcani Institute in Israel and was a timely boost for the fruit, he said. “Arils were very labour intensive to extract so the offer to mechanise this process came at just the right time in terms of developing the cut-fruit market and demand is very strong.”
The company is now looking to set up a new pomegranate aril-processing site outside of Israel to offer year-round availability to the UK market.
