APETIT PLC, Finland, frozen vegetable products, frozen ready meals and ready-to-use fresh vegetables

Apetit Plc is a Finnish producer of convenient fresh and frozen vegetable based products that are healthy, tasty and based on locally sourced raw materials such as potatoes, leeks, carrots, peas, swede, parsnips, celery, beetroot, and spinach. Its aim is to become the leading brand in frozen vegetable products, frozen ready meals and ready-to-use fresh vegetables. Petri Pyysalo, technical manager at Apetit (picture), says: “Apetit has worked closely with contract growers in the Satakunta region in south-western Finland for more than 60 years. Essentially, good food is made from good ingredients, so the quality of the vegetables we use is the most important factor affecting our product quality. “As a company, we have become extremely familiar with the local suppliers and growers and sign agreements with around 140 contract growers every year. We also select quality suppliers outside the Satakunta region, from European and international markets, because Finland is situated too northern for farming e.g. corn and peppers. We purchase vegetables from Finnish, European and international suppliers depending on the season”. GREAT TASTEPetri explains why its vegetables have such a great taste: “Finland is the northernmost agricultural country in the world and this is something that you can taste in our vegetables. Arctic food production is characterized by short summers and low temperatures, combined with long summer days and short nights. This unique combination lends a specific taste and texture to the vegetables, and that’s why Apetit has been exporting tasty “midsummer night” peas to Italy since 1970. “We try to harvest when the vegetables are at their best in order to keep that wonderful taste. We know how to freeze vegetables such as peas, potatoes and spinach rapidly: we wash them gently, blanch them and freeze them evenly to prevent the formation of large ice crystals that alter the texture of the vegetables. “Apetit aims to lead the way in developing a vegetable-based food chain, which is why we are investing more than ever in quality. We strongly favor suppliers who have a valid quality or product safety management tool in place, and in order to become the leading brand, we are increasing our efforts in product development and investing in new food solutions, service development and technical innovations. “We are currently processing approximately 20,000 tons of frozen vegetables per year. During this process, we also sort out foreign materials, making sure we guarantee a top quality product as well as food safety along the way. We want to make sure that no foreign materials enter the further production line after coming from the storing and mixing process. That’s why we have bought TOMRA’s free fall pulsed LED camera sorters for the packaging lines – as many companies do”. Read the full Success Story here: