The Natureseal project began in the US as a joint effort between Mantrose-Haeuser Company (parent company of Agricoat Industries) and the US department of agriculture. The goal was to develop a shelf-life extender for fresh cut and prepared produce that was free from sulphites.
“The first Natureseal products were developed in the late 1990s for fresh cut apple and pear processors,” says Simon Matthews, product development manager. “The Washington Apple Commission was quick to spot the potential for fresh cut apple slices as the perfect healthy snack and a “guilt-free” answer to between-meal snacking, and became involved early on with market research, which identified fresh sliced apples as an opportunity waiting to boom.
“The precedent had been set in the US by the rise in carrot consumption brought about by the introduction of cut-and-peeled carrots in the late 1980s. Natureseal products, based on proprietary blends of vitamins and minerals, played an important part in the success of snack apple slices,” says Matthews.
Natureseal protects all aspects of shelf life (except microbial), including texture, colour and flavour, moisture and firmness. Matthews says the key to its success with apple slices was that the process has no impact on flavour. Other attempts to develop products to prevent browning in sliced apples would often result in an acidic or salty taste.
“Natureseal is effective on a wide range of dessert and culinary apple varieties, including green and red cultivars. After several years of extensive trials and commercial use, AgriCoat now has valuable experience of working with many different varieties and with fruit from different origin and history,” he says. “Very early on it was identified that the Bramley apple would require a slightly modified formula to that used on dessert varieties. In order to ensure that it would be possible to offer a year round product, it was necessary to consider the impact of a fruit’s history, whether it had been stored in conventional refrigeration or under CA or ULO conditions for example.”
In the US, a number of companies traditionally involved in the packing and marketing of apples have diversified into fresh-cut processing and now produce ready-to-eat products for supermarkets, hotels, fast food out-lets and even hospital and school lunch programmes. Customer services manager Ross Nicholson says: “These companies have found new ways to market sliced apples as components of salad mixtures, apple dipper products and fresh fruit platters.”
Nicholson explains that foodservice in schools has been a driving force for fresh-cut apples. “Nutritionists in the US reported that regardless of how often whole apples were offered on the school lunch menu, students were opting not to take apples 75 per cent of the time. Further, of the small percentage of students who did select apples, 65 per cent were consuming less than half the fruit. The main reasons for this reported by students were difficulty of eating a whole apple due to braces, missing teeth etc. When asked about how to increase fresh apple consumption, 91 per cent of foodservice directors believed that students would select and eat a sliced apple rather than a whole apple.”
Following the success in the US, AgriCoat Industries was able to introduce Natureseal to the UK and European markets, assisted by the focus on healthy eating and the increasing demand for ready-to-eat fruit products. “The product clearly arrived at the right time and the benefits of Natureseal were rapidly identified by leading UK processors and retailers,” says Nicholson.
“Natureseal has enabled sliced apples now be to part of any new product development programme,” Matthews adds. “Already in the UK we see prepared apples sold not just in mixed salad bowls but now sold in bags either separately or together with other fruit inclusions, such as grape berries. In the US, some of these fruit bags are marketed containing sachets of dipping sauces or dips.
“This is probably only the beginning as there are now more opportunities to include apples in foodservice operations and add such fruits to salad bar outlets. Fresh sliced apples with good shelf life enable novel ideas such as apple pancakes, crepes, apple dessert pizzas and fresh apple inclusions in leafy salad mixtures to be developed.”
Through extensive and ongoing effort, AgriCoat has also developed an entire line of Natureseal treatments for a range of fresh cut fruits and vegetables. Matthews says: “Different fruits and vegetables present new challenges - as a company we listen constantly to what our customers would like to do and come up with solutions for the barriers that may be in the way.”
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