The English Village Salads, 5 A DAY Supporter of the Year award went to Watton Produce Company for its involvement in both the 5 A DAY programme and the School Fruit & Vegetable Scheme (SFVS), whilst using the association to encourage greater consumption of its core products and introduce new lines into the mix.
Watton Produce grows and processes 60,000 tonnes of carrots and parsnips a year, in England, Scotland, Spain and France. Its retail customers include Budgens, Lidl, Netto, Sainsbury’s and Tesco and as well as servicing the foodservice, wholesale and SFVS markets.
The company’s involvement in SFVS, which supplies a free piece of fruit or vegetable to all 4-6 year-old children on each and every school day, began in 2003. By late 2004, it was providing carrots to seven of the scheme’s nine regions - a staggering 1.8 million carrots a week in all. The prepared carrots were grown specifically for their sweet taste and bright orange colour, in order to encourage schoolchildren who may never have eaten carrots before to give them a try.
Last year, however, the involvement in the SFVS began to dig deeper. Rather than simply supply the scheme, Watton took it upon itself to visit various schools in the east of England, to understand the children’s thoughts on the produce they eat. From this the company understood the need for variety within the scheme and the importance of colour and novelty. A six-month trial of growing mini cucumbers in the UK and Israel followed this exercise, and then a trial of the product within the scheme in the summer of 2006.
Mini cucumbers have now been rolled out to all schools within the country, and more than six million mini cues will go through the scheme during a six-week period through the summer of 2007.
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