FPJ
Worldwide Fruit aims to double Envy exports
Apple marketer Worldwide Fruit has said it plans to more than double exports of New Zealand apple variety Envy to Asia this year after successfully sending 2.5 containers to Singapore last year.
Speaking at last week’s National Fruit Show, Technical Director Tony Harding told the Fresh Produce Journal that the company is taking a different approach this year, by giving growers specific standards for exporting Envy. The aesthetic qualities required by Asian markets, such as colour and skin finish, are different to European customers, he said.
Elsewhere, Harding said Jazz remains a primary focus for Worldwide Fruit and said the variety is performing “extremely well”.
“Jazz is performing extremely well, and it’s ahead of the market with returns and sales. It’s a nice crop from Europe and the UK. It looks very good and eating quality is very high,” he said.
On pears, the company has launched new early blush variety Qtee this year, which crops “very well” and arrives onto the market earlier than Conference. “It’s gone very well, we’ve sold small volumes of UK-grown fruit into Waitrose and some wholesalers. The season has just finished but we have high hopes for the future,” Harding said.
Speaking about the wider top-fruit market, Harding said the market has been “hard work” in recent weeks, although some varieties have bucked the trend.
“It has been particularly tough for red dessert apples and Cox, though other varieties are performing better. There is a strong appetite for Gala and Conference.
“We are trying to improve returns on last year, and so far so good. The value of the crop is reflected in the volumes that are out there.”
Exclusive survey for FPJ Live lifts the lid on shopper attitudes to food waste, supermarkets, GM and much more
Two-thirds of shoppers are apprehensive about fresh produce waste – but they appear to be underestimating the scale of the problem.
Exclusive new research by England Marketing, to be revealed at FPJ Live in Solihull on 30 April, indicates that some 66% of consumers are worried about the level of fresh produce that is thrown away either in the home or by supermarkets. Only 25% said they were unconcerned.
Food waste has shot to the top of the agenda after Tesco revealed last October that a quarter of all the grapes it sells and as much as 40% of apples are thrown away.
And England Marketing’s research, which covered a large representative sample of consumers and different age groups across the country, suggests shoppers may be underestimating how much is wasted. Asked to estimate how much fresh produce they throw away, 21% said none, 28% said 10% and 15% throw away a fifth.
A further fifth believe they waste half or more of all the fresh produce they buy.
Respondents were also asked what they thought should be done with wasted fresh produce. Comments included: ‘Put it into compost bins or in the green bin’; ‘Feed it to animals’; ‘People need to be less neurotic about sell-by/eat-by dates’; ‘It should be used for compost or for gardening’; ‘Give it to food banks’; and ‘Send it to homeless people.’
Jan England, managing director of England Marketing, said the results showed consumers should “eat with their eyes more” rather than fretting over use-by dates on pack. “There is a lot of confusion over sell-by and use-by dates,” she explained.
“People are perceiving produce to have gone bad when it hasn’t and that is leading to higher amounts of waste. And they may be underestimating how much they are wasting.” The food waste results form just one area covered by one of the most extensive pieces of consumer research in the fresh produce category in recent years. The survey also asked shoppers about their attitudes to individual supermarkets, price promotions, migrant labour, packaging, GM and much more.