Impressions about Fruit Logistica 2015

The 2015 edition of Fruit Logistica took place between February 4th and 6th in Berlin. The show increases from one year to the next its importance as meeting point of the global fruit and vegetable trade. Due to its central position in Northern Europe, it also increases its importance as a hub for that commercial area. An area centered around Germany. A country where Poles, Scandinavians, Russians, Swiss, Austrians? feel at home. The recently inaugurated ?City Cube Berlin? has added a new hall and extra exhibition place to the show. The trade runs ahead of the pack and consumers believe they are consuming The line above is suggested by the presentations that took place during the ?Fresh Produce Forum?, organized each year by the magazines sponsoring the show, Eurofruit and Fruchthandel. This meeting takes place the day before the show, during the afternoon. Important issues of the fruit and vegetable trade discussed there. This year the presentations and discussions were about an issue of utmost importance: individual?s behavior in the consumption of fruit and vegetables. Nevertheless, attendance to the event was not very large. Maybe the change of venue ? it took place somewhere near the hall 7 of the ?Messe? Berlin, and not in the International Congress Center ICC, as usual ? had a negative effect on the number of visible attendants (vs. registered one, a figure we do not manage). Among the issues discussed were the well known and proved positive nutritional traits of fruit and vegetables and the different strategies used by traders to increase produce sales. This effort is not new. The first steps of this sales promotion strategy in Spain can be traced back to 1998 in Feria Valencia (Valencia fair ground). Those initiatives led to establish the Spanish chapter of 5 a Day (?5 al D?a?) in Reus, province of Tarragona. And the European project ?Fruit and Veg?, having as leader Ediciones de Horticultura, Reus. Similar movements were also active in Denmark, The Netherlands?, all of them inspired on the North American ?5 a Day?. The results of all these efforts were, indirectly, summarized in comments by Roberto della Casa, professor of the University of Bologna, who works closely with the trade show ?Macfrut?. On the one hand, the difference between consumer?s perceptions regarding consumption of fruit and vegetables and reality was discussed. Asking his own Italian students ? supposedly under the influence of the ?Mediterranean diet? ? about when was the last time they had eaten a piece of fruit or a vegetable, the majority answered: (1) they did not remember or (2) it was since longer than three days. In spite of all efforts done in order to keep consumption level ? many of the efforts to increase consumption founded by the EU- , that consumption has gone backwards by about 2 kg/person in the per capita consumption since 2007. Ironically, commented also Robeto della Casa, the campaign aimed at reducing wastage ? throwing away - of fruit and vegetables at consumer?s level, has resulted in diminishing sales. That means, it was successful. Reducing waste meant that instead of buying three bananas, people bought just two. A 30 % reduction. Buying frequency increased, but it did not make up for reduction in bought quantities. A very important amount of ?collateral damage? caused by that reduction of consumption of vegetables, both for individuals and for the public budgets, is the damage to the health of consumers. Going from 350 g/day/person down to 250 g/day/person results in poorer consumer?s health. Those are Italian figures, but if that is happening in a country where vegetable consumption is traditionally high, extrapolation to other scenarios would not improve the numbers. But, why are these results of the battle for the belly of the consumer that bad?, asks rhetorically Professor Della Casa. Essentially, the fruit and vegetable business is about that. In Italy, the milk industry spends on promotion, only for yoghurt, 50 times more than the whole promotional expenses of the fruit and vegetable business. Maybe it is time for the managers and leaders of the fruit and vegetable industry to stop running ahead, take a little time for thinking and start some well designed actions aimed to reverse those negative tendencies. Fruit should compete regarding organoleptic traits ? mainly taste and right ripeness grade ? with other kinds of desserts. This is an aspect that Globus ? the German retailer ? takes seriously into account, together with the training of its employees. German consumers reacted positively to this effort. In the survey taken by Fresh Forum, Globus was chosen ? again ? as the best company among the large retailers, being considered first in many categories. Technology Both the procedures used in postharvest and also materials and equipment go on making progress in aspects like accuracy, user friendliness, diversification, safety, hygiene, and value increase of the fresh produce. Many examples of precision postharvest were displayed in the meeting organized by the ?Project Quafety? to disseminate its ? many ? results: the efforts made by different participating research teams are yielding results for an array of products. Which is the best management for fresh cut or minimally processed of different species of produce, melon, for instance. The drop in the oil price has pushed energy efficiency out of the focus of attention, but it stays as an important issue anyway. Very interesting studies have been done in the Wageningen UR about how much can be saved during protracted storage using only slight higher temperatures during conservation. This research organization at the university of Wageningen is a good example of the changes undergone by research activities in the last few years: the organization considers its activity as a business and its researchers exhibit their results in Fruit Logistca in order to draw the attention of potential buyers for their services. In the same way that many other companies show their products. Very intuitive tactile display screens show how user friendly equipment has become. Equipment is designed in order to make its cleaning and maintenance easier. Green technologies continue gaining ground. New coatings extend produce life without leaving residues. New conservation technologies for plastic vessels are being developed. Passive ones like special plastics, or normal ones regulated by tiny holes; or active technologies like containers working in the same way than AC chambers, modifying the atmospheric composition in an active way. Companies selling technology for fresh cut manufacturers are an example of diversification and some of them, also of ?democratization?. The applications of the machines grow steadily ? peeling machines for more kinds of fruits and vegetables, cutting systems that satisfy the most demanding cooks?- and a ?democratization? of the machines? yields? not only adapted to the needs of large industries, but also to the ones of small operators wishing to add value to their products. The way of thinking ?to sell a salad? (not a lettuce) is always present. That means, put yourself in the shoes of your customer and try to see what he sees in your produce. This idea can be extended to all the kinds of products and services you can imagine. The overlapping with the industry is in each edition of the show more obvious: to the supply machinery for fresh cut and for pre-cooked dishes, equipment for conventional manufacturing, like preparation or packaging of loose vegetable pulp, is also to be noticed. Fruit and vegetables Processed produce, mostly displayed by European producers, increases its presence. Fresh produce predominates in growers from other countries. The Dutch pavilion shows how fruit and vegetables can also be very handy making a stand more attractive. That country displays its know how making more attractive the point of sale. The winners of the 10th issue of the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award (FLIA) show the interest of participants for products that make things easier and attract consumers. The first three prizes were all won by fruit or vegetables showing some especially attractive trait: seedless papaya, cherry tomatoes, and produce easier to use. Produce promotional activities had a very good example in lemons, a citrus fruit which Argentine growers from the province Tucum?n joined efforts to promote. The producers showed the large number of uses that can be given to lemon juice, which is a fresh drink to be obtained without additives and also without sugar. Sugar is a very important ingredient for the refreshment industry, an ingredient that is being increasingly considered ? based on scientific evidence ? as detrimental for health. Presentations in the show We have the impression ? that means, a not measurable knowledge- that the number of presentations, both technical and commercial, increases. But the physical extension of the show, and also the very density of different activities, makes it very difficult for many people ? other ways interested ? to attend to many of them. The consequence is that many of those presentations, in spite of the high quality of their contents and the professionality of the speeches, reach only a despairingly low number of attendees. The question is, therefore, if the European mentality allows to adopt the same structure of the PMA?s Fresh Summit, where show and technical presentations do not overlap. Such a structure makes possible that both, visitors and exhibitors, can attend both of them. And, in this way, learn, know new tendencies, listen to new ideas, ?; all as an important complement for those days to make business days. ? Pictures 1 - Fruit, ready to eat, packaged for the catering and for the restaurant industries. 2 - Off-season production and technology allows the presence on the markets of all kind of products the whole year round. In the last years, Argentina has added berries to its supply and Argentinian postharvest companies, like Prodol, offer their equipments all over the wolrd. 3 - In order to keep quality, plastic materials protect salads, broccoli, cawliflower?The system proposed by Brimapack is designed for produce with round shapes. 4 - Versatility both in kind and quantity of processed produce is the main characteristic of the MultiSort equipment introduced by Greefa. 5 - Flyer about our Internet portals Postharvest.biz and Poscosecha.com and showing highlighted companies that offer postharvest technology and services. The brochure was distributed in the 2015 edition of Fruit Log?stica (the leaflet in PDF format can be downloaded following the link further below in the page). ? TranslationMiguel Merino