Consumers rushing out to buy Sainsbury’s new stoneless avocado could be disappointed on a number of levels.
The retailer, looking to score a PR coup, this week announced it would be selling a stoneless version of the popular fruit.
However, producers in South Africa pointed out that what Sainsbury’s is claiming as a stoneless avocado is actually an unwanted by-product of the avocado production process, known as a cuc, which in most cases is simply thrown away.
“This is a fruit where the seed has aborted, probably due to the tree being stressed,” said one producer.
Dr Anton Hough, director of research with the South African Avocado Growers’ Association, said: “It’s not something we produce, it’s just something we get. It’s not a nice fruit, it doesn’t ripen well and tends to be rubbery.”
Despite this, Sainsbury’s PR offensive ensured widespread exposure for a product, which according to industry sources, in volume terms will amount to as little as a pallet a week.
A producer said: “Reading about them makes you want to go out and try them but there’s no doubt the cucs will disappoint consumers. When these things ripen they just shrivel up.”
A spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s admitted the fruit was a by-product but denied it would disappoint. She added it would be in 50 stores.
SAAGA’s Hough questioned whether it would be possible to market the fruit. “It’s not something we can produce on demand. Some years you get a lot and other years not that many.” However, some producers said the occurrence of the fruit is down to tree stress and are now investigating the possibility of artificially stressing trees to produce cucs.
This is a risky business though, one said: “Stressed trees become very susceptible to disease, pest attack and low yields. This would make us very wary of trying to farm on that basis. Our worry is that people will start looking at these like the seedless grape and they are clearly not.”
While some producers are investigating possible production techniques, they warn it is still early days: “Large orders for this product would be premature right now.”
At the moment, costs of producing the fruit are high - harvesting is difficult due to the fruit occurring randomly on trees, and packhouses are not geared to deal with the product.
An industry source called on retailers’ to avoid using fruit as a promotional weapon. “Supermarkets are looking for differentiation from each other and suppliers need to accommodate what they’re after, but fruit shouldn’t be used as a marketing tool, if they want to differentiate on fruit, it should be around issues like quality,” he said.
“What they’re doing at the moment is just hyping something up, there needs to be some recognition of reality.
“On the other hand however, some growers are saying, if we can now sell a product that previously we would have thrown away, then that’s great.
