The season is now in full swing at Masseria Fruttirossi, Italy's leading pomegranate producer. It has been harvesting the fruits of the earliest cultivars such as Shany, Emek and Ako for about a month now: this year, due to the particularly hot summer temperatures, harvesting operations started around ten days earlier than usual, and will be be over soon.
The harvesting of the Wonderful cultivar will start in around 10 days' time, also earlier than last year, and yields are expected to exceed 4,000 tonnes. Activities will keep the company busy for the entire month of October.
Dario De Lisi, sales manager of Masseria Fruttirossi, commented that, "after almost 30 days on the market, we can be fully pleased with this first phase, as both quality and volume exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts with 30-40% more produce than last year. Now we are preparing for the Wonderful harvest, which promises to be just as positive. Having started early has allowed us to market before our competitors in both the domestic and foreign markets, strengthening relations with customers who have been loyal for years and, above all, to successfully deal with new ones abroad. We have already started deliveries to England, Switzerland and Germany, the Netherlands and Croatia. As for the Italian big retail chains, we have started to supply Carrefour with our 'Terre d'Italia' brand pomegranates."
Dario De Lisi
The Apulian manager then explained how he intends to grow the clientele in the fruit and vegetable sector. "In addition to the company's marketing activities, we are further developing our presence at the most important international trade fairs, where we showcase our Lome Super Fruit-branded fresh and processed products, i.e. tubs of fresh arils and 100% pomegranate juices with no added sugars, preservatives or coloring agents.
Trays of fresh arils: extensive fresh-cut program
"Having so many pomegranates available earlier than expected also allowed us to develop our fresh-cut program with fresh Lome Super Fruit arils trays in advance," reported De Lisi.
The demand for ready-to-eat fruit, i.e. the fresh-cut range with ready-to-eat fruit in trays, is sky-rocketing in many European countries, and the phenomenon is destined to grow more and more, especially for pomegranates: the frenzied pace of modern life, in fact, limits the possibility of dedicating time to a fruit that may seem difficult to peel and which is nonetheless increasingly in demand due to its exceptional nutritional antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities.
Packaged arils
"We promote fresh-cut aril trays a lot because we offer a unique product in a booming market segment, in fact we have already made a first important delivery to a Dutch customer."
In addition to being able to guarantee a product from a closed, zero-mile supply chain, the company only processes pomegranates from our own fields, with all the main international quality certifications - GlobalGAP, BRC, IFS, SMETA and Vegan OK.
"We are the only ones offering trays of arils with a cold-chain shelf-life of twenty days, i.e. more than double the 7-10 days or so of our competitors, with an all-natural process that does not use additives and chemical treatments. In fact, our fresh-cut Lome Super Fruit arils are treated in our HPP (High Pressure Processing) machine which uses high hydrostatic pressure: this is the so-called 'cold pasteurization', which naturally eliminates the bacterial load while preserving all the nutritional and organoleptic properties."
Considering that pomegranate cultivation requires typically Mediterranean soil and climate conditions, a cold-chain shelf-life of twenty days allows not only an excellent positioning in the domestic market, but in the foreign market as well. "If we consider that it takes four to five days to reach the northern European markets, our fresh-cut 'Lome Super Fruit' arils have a residual shelf-life of a good 15 days. We are in fact experiencing great interest in our product."
Other market options for Masseria Fruttirossi
"Thanks to a cold-chain shelf-life of 20 days, we are proposing 2kg packs of fresh arils for the H&R channel and for cruise lines: pomegranate arils - especially if ready to use - can be used both in the preparation of dishes and as a decorative element in the fruit compositions that are popular in reception halls," concludes De Lisi.
Masseria Fruttirossi will be attending both Fruit Attraction in Madrid (October 8-10, 2024), in Hall 3 - Stand 3A08C, and Sial in Paris (October 19-23), the world's largest fair for innovation in the agri-food industry, in Hall 1- C094/Stand2.
For more information:
Masseria Fruttirossi
C.da Terzo Dieci snc
74011 Castellaneta (Taranto) - Italy
+39 099 9647688
[email protected]
lomesuperfruit.com