Fresh cut packing storage, sales & traceability: manage the entire fresh cut manufacturing, packing, and distribution processes with farmsoft Fresh Cut & Packing solutions.

99% less fresh produce packing waste

Accurate fresh produce & food inventory management reduces waste through better FIFO stock rotation, stock-takes, and inventory alerts. RFID pallet control (optional) for precision inventory tracking. 

Save time packing fruit & vegetables

Increase the efficiency of fresh produce inventory using options like scanning incoming bar-codes to reduce data entry & errors, integrate with scales for automatic weighing, ore RFID for automatic fresh produce inventory tracking.

Better fresh produce quality control

Guarantee the quality of your fresh produce packing with flexible fresh QC testing systems from your phone or tablet. Customer feedback management, supplier quality control and more...

Reduce fresh produce packing errors & control production

Project required inventory (and shortages), schedule orders to be packed in batches , automatic alerts to prodution line managers.

100% accurate fresh produce order shipping

Shipping teams are guided through the dispatch process from picking using a phone or tablet (optional bar-code scanning), automatic picking, thru bill of lading, invoice, and automatic shipping notifications for customers, transport, and sales teams.

Reduce fresh produce packing administration costs by 40%

Automatic generation of fresh produce labels, bill of lading, invoice, picking documents and more; reduces administrative burden.

Easy audit & recall systems reduces compliance costs.

Faster fresh produce inventory storage  inventory

Accurate fresh produce & food inventory management delivers reduced waste and increased employee productivity. Manage FIFO, improve stock-take accuracy, scan harvester data, and keep a watchful eye on your inventory... Easy stock-take identifies shrinkage and helps reduce waste from ageing. 

100% accurate fresh produce traceability

Maintain strict fresh produce traceability and high food safety standards always. Perform recalls based on lot/batch, pack date, invoice #, inventory #, pallet #, delivery date, purchase order #, or perform a recall on your own user defined data. Perform instant recalls both up and down the supply chain. Makes audits easy and instant. COVID-19 food safety & auditing available. 

Reduce fresh produce waste by 99%

Inventory control ensures there is no 'shrinkage', food inventory is FIFO managed, and expiring inventory always monitored.

Reduce administration time by 60%

Automatic paperwork, labels, and reporting reduces the burden on administration teams and saves everyone's time.

Better fresh produce quality now

Quality control and food safety has never been easier with industry standard quality tests, food safety checklists; or configure your own tests. 

100% accurate orders!

Guarantee only the correct inventory is shipped for each order, on time, every time.

Fresh cut packing storage, sales & traceability: manage the entire fresh cut manufacturing, packing, and distribution processes with farmsoft Fresh Cut & Packing solutions.

Farmsoft fresh produce packing app is for fruit & vegetable packer, processor, import/export.  Full fresh produce traceability, auditing, inventory control, and fresh produce business management app.

Quality inspection for fresh produce

Consistent and accurate quality control ensures higher customer satisfaction and adherence to industry, de-facto, and in-house quality control standards. Track supplier quality performance, customer feedback & complaints, create QC tests for any part of the fresh produce & food manufacturing process (incoming goods, raw materials, finished goods, expiry test, export/shipping tests), daily factory hygiene, machinery calibration, employee checklists... 

Fresh produce logistics

Manage orders, pack to order, picking and auto picking, dispatch & shipping process. Generate invoices, bill of lading, pick slips, export documentation and other sales documents... Dispatch teams are guided through the dispatch process ensuring every order is filled perfectly, and on time. Paperwork such as BOL, freight documents, export documents are automatically generated based on the customer and destination to guarantee no rejected shipments or issues at borders.

Fresh produce labels

Generate fresh produce SSCC pallet labels, GS1 case & PTI labels, bin labels, batch labels, traded unit labels, harvest labels and more. Use the built in industry standard labels for Walmart, Woolworths, Aldi, Tesco, Loblaws etc - or design your own with the built in label & report designer. Our team can design all of your fresh produce documents to ensure farmsoft matches your requirements perfectly.

Fresh produce packing control

Sales, Quality, Profit, Dispatch, Pack, Farm...... Dashboards for sales teams provide instant impressions of customer orders and current inventory levels. The dispatch dashboard helps plan shipments, order of loading, and transport companies & drivers... The Profit analysis dashboard shows margins per unit and most profitable customers. Use our API to access your data however you like.

Fresh produce batch packing

Project required raw materials needed to pack/manufacture orders, potential shortages, schedule multiple orders to be packed in batches on selected production lines with a few clicks, automatically send new job alerts to managers, schedule additional harvests, analyze outstanding orders. Manage entire packing and manufacturing process with ease.

Fresh produce alerts monitoring

Automatic alerts for shipments can be sent to customers, transport providers, or even team members. Every time a batch is finished processing, receive an alert with the pack-out breakdown and percentages of grades & quality and waste. Alerts can include simple shipment notifications, or even invoices and original order details. Other alerts include order changes/modifications, yield reports, new order alerts, and low inventory alerts... 

Farm app option

Implement the farmsoft Farm Management suite to provide a comprehensive integrated business management solution from seed to plate. Includes automatic task management, best practices, budgeting, farm inventory, PHI enforcement, audits, residue reporting, USDA reporting, dashboards, recalls and more... 

Fresh produce supplier quality control

Suppliers must know that your business is measuring and tracking their performance. Any trends that effect the quality of fresh produce can be quickly detected, automatically traced back to the fresh produce supplier (especially if a result of a customer complaint / feedback), management and purchasing teams are automatically alerted when a supplier quality issue happens. Quantify your suppliers quality using the Supplier Quality Dashboard. 

Fresh produce finance apps

Share data with your Xero finance app, Quickbooks, MYOB, SAGE, using our API, or request our team perform a custom integration for your fresh produce company. This is an optional module, please ask your consultant for additional details and discuss your specific requirements, additional costs will apply for integration with your chosen finance app. 

Fresh produce RFID

Automatic tracking of each pallet’s exact location. Makes loading orders accurate and easy, stops errors during shipping. Very low costs to setup your hardware using farmsoft’s innovative RFID for fresh produce solution. Pallets put onto truck are auto added to order, and checked for accuracy. Pick up a pallet and its RFID instantly selected. Add pallet/bin to production line and its auto added to batch for traceability.

Fresh produce API

Integrate with virtually any other app or software solution using the farmsoft API. It's open! Anyone can use it. Your in house I.T. team, or any external I.T. vendor you want to help you with integration. Add your own reports, extract special data, or even create new interfaces between farmsoft and any app such as accounting, payroll, B2B, B2C. Other integration in farmsoft includes the ability to integrate with selected weigh scales to capture fresh produce net delivery weights.

Fresh produce bloch-chain

Increase customer confidence and prove the credentials of your traceability integrity and transparency with block-chain ledger technology.   We use the chain-trace.com blockchain solution. (Optional module not included with standard Packing / Food Manufacturing ERP solution).

Improve fresh produce production planning

Efficient management customer orders, and the ability to analyze orders gives you new production planning tolls in farmsoft. Ensure each order is filled to exact specifications, on time, every time. Increase customer satisfaction and retention, and reduce stress in the packhouse with confident production planning using work orders/batch orders, sales contracts, sales orders, and sales order items. Are you manufactruing or processing chili products? Try farmsoft for chili processing. 

Accurate fresh produce traceability

Quality officers are guided through the quality control process, presented with images and instructions for each test, ensuring they know what to look for at all times, corrective actions are presented if a quality issue is detected. This makes training new fresh produce quality control officers fast, and ensures consistency in the quality control management processes for incoming fresh produce, post pack/post processing, storage, and dispatch. 

Efficient use of fresh produce cold stores

Maximize your cold store use and rotation of stock using farmsoft's pallet maps, and precision traceability tracking with expiring inventory reminders.
Cold store management software for fruit importers, exporters, packers, cross docking, and short and long term fruit storage.

Fresh cut packing storage, sales & traceability: manage the entire fresh cut manufacturing, packing, and distribution processes with farmsoft Fresh Cut & Packing solutions.

The farmsoft inventory control app provides business wide quality management inspection systems for fresh produce, food manufacturing, seed processing, meat packing & processing, and flower packing.


Woolworths food compliance for food vendors and food manufacturing:  Food Manufacturing Requirements

Woolworths food manufacturing requirements compliance
Woolworths food manufacturing requirements compliance
1. INTRODUCTION

Here at Woolworths we are committed to working closely with our suppliers, to provide our customers with a fantastic range of products they can trust to be safe and have consistent quality for them and their family. In the development of the Supplier Excellence Program, we have listened to the feedback we have received from our suppliers and endeavoured to develop a program that:  

Suppliers will need to maintain each level of the Supplier Excellence Program, and be audited to:
Level 1: a GFSI* benchmark standard or Supplier Excellence Base Standard.
❖ if your business is audited to one of the GFSI Standards below, you may not need to be audited to the Supplier Excellence Base Standard
❖ if your business does not have a GFSI certification, you will need to be audited against the Supplier Excellence Standard and maintain a satisfactory (minimum Amber) grade ongoing.
Level 2: includes any applicable Industry Standards and Codes of Practice (COPs) - See Appendix 1at the end of this document.
Level 3: Woolworths authorised product specifications are required for all Woolworths branded products, exclusive and fresh products. These have to be current and agreed prior to first production of any product.

Walmart food safety compliance app for traceability and food safety: for all food businesses including fresh produce, fruit & vegetable packer:  Walmart fresh produce compliance
Food Safety Assessment in Walmart Stores have aligned with GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) and requires all private brand suppliers, regardless of company size or the inherent food safety risks associated with their products, to obtain full GFSI certification. Every operation from farm to final pack house or warehouse must achieve GFSI certification to be a Private Brand Supplier. For more information about the certification process for fresh produce, you may review The Supplier’s Guide to Becoming GFSI Certified. Please visit www.mygfsi.com for a full list of recognized schemes. You may also view a list of the recognized audits on the Level
Safety Audit Requirements document.
FDA Bioterrorism Registration - Suppliers will need to ensure that all fresh produce compliance Walmart operations that provide product to Walmart and/or Sam’s Club have registered with
the FDA and have a current FDA bioterrorism registration number. Each operation that is approved and issued a vendor number is required to have an individual FDA registration. To ensure fresh produce Compliance, suppliers will provide this number to Walmart upon our request.

Track and trace fresh produce fruit & vegetable traces fresh produce products from field to plate using simple to use apps for small, medium, and large fruit & vegetable packer, processor, and food manufacturer.  TRACK-AND-TRACE TECHNOLOGY FOR FRESH PRODUCE & FRUIT & VEGETABLE PROCESSOR AND PACKERS
FarmSoft track and trace is a comprehensive fresh produce business management solution that caters for all operational processes from quality control, inventory, sales, dispatch, and orders. FarmSoft even provides food manufacturing, good manufacturing management, and value adding features. FarmSoft track and trace software provides many innovative features to bring easily maintained benefits to the fresh produce processor, packer, and marketer.

Using the FarmSoft traceability code, customers, and end consumers can track and trace fresh produce simply by scanning a QR code with their smartphone. The track and trace system will then present the customer/end consumer with the traceability or marketing information as chosen by the packer. This helps to improve customer confidence and provides supply chain transparency to promote the concept of food safety.

Herb drying, packing, sales: Manage the entire herb drying and dehydration, packing, processing, and sales space for herb processors and packers.  Herb drying, packing, sales: Manage the entire herb drying and dehydration, packing, processing, and sales space for herb processors and packers.
Herbs are widely utilized in food and health industries. Their beneficial effects to the human body have been attributed to the presence of active phytochemical ingredients with some efficiency for disease treatment as well as for beauty and health enhancement. Public awareness on the adverse effects of synthetic chemical products also increased the demand for herbal products. Highly efficient herbal processing and extraction technologies have been developed to obtain the optimal amounts of active ingredients from herbs and cope with the rising demands for herbal products. This article reviews the state-of-the-art development in herbal processing and extraction methods from the year 1991 until 2015. We start with a brief history of herbal usage, followed by descriptions of 10 types of extraction processes and critical analysis of their relative advantages and disadvantages. Scale-up considerations of the extraction methods are shared, and a highlight of the current and future challenges facing the herbal industry is presented.


11-Point Checklist for Perishable Inventory Management > Fresh produce inventory management:   1: Demand Classification


Advanced inventory optimization tools are available to profitably replenish your perishable inventory and help standardize your perishable ordering for maximum user efficiency, top-line revenue and profitability. These forecasting systems enable buyers to easily replenish perishable inventory multiple times per week, adapt quickly to new trends, plan for seasonality, accurately calculate safety stock, accommodate varying lead times, manage product dating and visualize expiration data, understand cost constraints and more.

If you want the best possible prediction of future demand, you’ll need to classify demand properly. Demand classification technology analyzes your SKUs and puts them in the proper classifications – such as continuous sellers, seasonal, intermittent, lumpy, slow moving, etc. – using demand attributes like volume and volatility. Your users can then leverage these in selecting forecast models and creating seasonal a forecast adjustment.


Produce a wide range of essential export documents for your fresh produce business, including SENASA, COO (Certificate of origin), Phytosanitary certificates and more. Guarantee your export documents are 100% accurate, and rapidly produced to ensure timely delivery of your fresh produce export/imports.
PRINT SENASA EXPORT DOCUMENTS
Generate SENASA export documents rapidly, and accurately. Email SENASA export documents to customers and shippers, and international freight forwarders.
BUILT IN SENASA TRACEABILITY
Guarantee the accuracy of your SENASA documents, with full pick list including pallet details and batch summaries. Up front traceability declarations increase customer confidence.
SENASA DOCUMENT DETAILS
The farmsoft SENASA documents include serial, internal batch, remission guide, producer code, Jaba used, supplier batch, boxes from each batch, and weight details.

Woolworths compliance & traceability made easy...
The farmsoft solution helps your business comply with Woolworths fresh produce packaging, labeling, and traceability requirements. Traceability is built into the core of farmsofts fresh produce inventory management solution; from orders, through to dispatch and sales. Ensure your fresh produce business complies with Woolworths fresh produce requirements with ease and speed. Print Woolworths compliant GS1-128 RPC (returnable plastic crate) tags, carton labels, crate labels, and Woolworths compliance SSCC pallet labels. Full bar-code inventory & pallet management, stock take (mobile & PC), pallet control, inventory labels (raw & finished), cold store, 3D storage, container management...  Reduce waste during the packing, processing, storage, and distribution phases. By enforcing Woolworths best practices, FIFO, inventory expiry monitoring, and easy stock takes - your company has every opportunity to minimize waste and maximize profit. From bar-code managed inventory, inventory labeling, to 3D pallet storage, farmsoft delivers on reduced waste. 

Coles labels for fresh produce requirements generate fresh produce labels that comply with Coles fresh produce labelling requirements. Manage inventory and your entire fresh produce operations including quality control and sales.  Coles fresh produce labeling requirements made easy with farmsoft...
Rapidly generate batch specific labels for packing fresh produce for Coles label compliance. Full enforcement of traceability and quality control compliance for Coles fresh produce vendors, suppliers, and partners.

REDUCE PACKING WASTE
By enforcing Coles best practices, FIFO, inventory expiry monitoring, and easy stock takes - your company has every opportunity to minimize waste and maximise profit.
COLES TRACEABILITY COMPLIANCE.  Perform recalls in seconds, with the full confidence of accuracy and reliability. Minimise risk by ensuring accurate traceability is automatically captured and all Coles traceability and compliance is being met at all times. Easy audits & reduced compliance costs.

Coles compliance fresh produce helps fresh produce packers, wholesalers, import/exporters of fresh produce adhere to Coles fresh produce compliance from labelling, documentation, traceability, quality control and more...  Easily comply with Coles traceability, labeling, and fresh produce management.

Coles compliance fresh produce quality control
Coles compliance fresh produce quality control
REDUCE PACKING WASTE
By enforcing Coles best practices, FIFO, inventory expiry monitoring, and easy stock takes - your company has every opportunity to minimize waste and maximise profit.
COLES TRACEABILITY COMPLIANCE
Perform recalls in seconds, with the full confidence of accuracy and reliability. Minimise risk by ensuring accurate traceability is automatically captured and all Coles traceability and compliance is being met at all times. Easy audits & reduced compliance costs.
REDUCE ADMINISTRATION COSTS
Minimise your admin costs with automatic and accurate printing/emailing of dispatch dockets, invoices, coles labels and more. No more rejected orders because of wrong documentation accompanying a shipment.
COLES QUALITY CONTROL

USDA APHIS compliance software solution to improve fruit and vegetable compliance for import and export to the USA. Increase efficiency, reduce waste in the fresh produce supply chain.  USDA APHIS compliance software solutions guide your fresh produce handling processes and ensure strict and easy compliance with traceability, food safety, and recall processes for importers and exporters.  USDA APHIS compliance software solution for packers of fruit and vegetables: processors, exporters and wholesalers of fresh produce.  USDA APHIS compliance software solutions from farmsoft guides employees through the entire USDA APHIS compliance process, making sure every action is taken at the correct time, and correct traceability details are being preserved at every step. This results in reduced waste and increased employee productivity by following correct food handling and food safety processes for post harvest activities in USDA APHIS compliance environments. Using farmsoft’s document management system for permits and certifications, you can manage Organism & Soil Permits, Plant Product Permits, transit permit information, fruit and vegetable import requirements (FAVIR), permit to import plants and more.

Tesco compliance fresh produce


Tesco compliance fresh produce, Tesco, Woolworths, Aldi, and Loblaw compliance software.  Tesco, Woolworths, Aldi, and Loblaw food safety compliance.  Tesco Food Manufacturing Standard (TFMS). This standard has been developed to outline the requirements to which manufacturers must comply in order to begin supplying, and thereafter continue supplying Tesco, either directly or indirectly. The standards support our commitment to ensuring all Tesco brand products are safe, meet legal requirements, and always meet customer expectations with respect to quality, provenance and responsible sourcing, building trust in the Tesco brand and supply chain.  This version builds upon Tesco’s UK approach of ensuring that standards can be applied in a way that manages risk and grows capability. It is intended to be interpreted by our suppliers across the world, in a way that allows individual sites to put controls in place that are appropriate to them and their industry, and proportional to the risks specific to their products, their processes and their site environment. Full application of the standards will support suppliers in driving improvement, a reduction in non-conforming products, and therefore help to reduce waste and cost.


Print AANZFTA & Organic Certificate (Australia) for exporters
AANZFTA & Organic Certificate
AANZFTA & Organic Certificate
AUSTRALIAN CERTIFIED ORGANIC 320-09 EX1399 and 320-10 EX11300
The majority of organic products sold in Australia carry the Australian Certified Organic Logo. You will see the BUD on products including fresh produce fruit and vegetables such as apple, orange, citrus, sultana, currant, table grapes, avocado, dried fruits, and other perishable foods.
Fresh produce and quality dried fruits represent everything that Australian organics is about – the growth and promise of spring, the sign of big things growing from the initial organic movement, and the strength and logic of nature and natural (biological and organic) systems in guiding our choices in life. Australian organic fresh produce and dried fruits tells consumers that all the product ingredients have been certified to the Australian Certified Organic Standard and have met rigorous certification checks. Use farmsoft for packing products such as fresh produce and dried fruits which have achieved certification through ACO’s certification scheme. Print Organic Certificates for Australia’s leading certification program – ACO – ensuring integrity of organic products in the marketplace for consumers and reducing administrative costs. Print Organic Certificate 320-09 EX1399 and Organic Certificate 320-10 EX11300 quickly from farmsoft for each shipment ready for export. ACO FAQ.

USDA fresh produce compliance software
USDA fresh produce compliance software:  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees food safety for fresh fruit and vegetables. After several large outbreaks of food borne illnesses in the mid-1990s, traced to California lettuce and Guatemalan raspberries, FDA started to focus on the potential for microbial contamination of fresh produce at the farm level. In 1998, FDA published its voluntary guidelines for good agricultural practices (GAPs) to reduce microbial contamination. FDA acknowledges that with current technology it is possible to reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of microbial contamination. These voluntary guidelines are used by many U.S. and foreign producers growing for the U.S. market. GAPs are general guidelines that can be used for any fresh fruit or vegetable. For growers, adopting GAPs has benefits and costs. When there is an outbreak traced to a particular commodity, all growers face reduced consumer demand, even if the outbreak is not traced to their operation. Farmers with GAPs can reduce their losses in such a case. In the 2003 hepatitis A outbreak associated with green onions imported from Mexico, growers with GAPs and third-party audits of their status suffered fewer losses than other Mexican growers who could not easily show buyers that they took food-safety precautions.  

FSMA compliance for fresh produce processing - an easy to use software solution.  FSMA compliance for fresh produce processing. Less waste, more traceability.
FSMA COMPLIANCE FOR FRESH PRODUCE PROCESSING

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is considered the most sweeping reform of US food safety laws in more than 70 years. The FSMA focuses on preventing, rather than reacting to contamination. Therefore, it requires organizations within the food industry to ensure that their supply chains are secure.
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety rule is now final, and the earliest compliance dates for some farms begin one year after the effective date of the final rule (see “Compliance Dates” below). The rule establishes, for the first time, science-based minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption.
The final rule is a combination of the original proposal and revisions outlined in the supplemental proposal, with additional changes as appropriate. The definition of “farm” and related terms were revised in the final Preventive Controls for Human Food rule, and the same definitions of those terms are used in this rule to establish produce safety standards. Operations whose only activities are within the farm definition are not required to register with FDA as food facilities and thus are not subject to the preventive controls regulations.

Walmart fresh produce compliance software for fruit and vegetable packers & wholesalers.  
Food Safety Assessment in Walmart Stores have aligned with GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) and requires all private brand suppliers, regardless of company size or the inherent food safety risks associated with their products, to obtain full GFSI certification. Every operation from farm to final pack house or warehouse must achieve GFSI certification to be a Private Brand Supplier. For more information about the certification process for fresh produce, you may review The Supplier’s Guide to Becoming GFSI Certified. Please visit www.mygfsi.com for a full list of recognized schemes. You may also view a list of the recognized audits on the Level
Safety Audit Requirements document.


FDA Bioterrorism Registration - Suppliers will need to ensure that all fresh produce compliance Walmart operations that provide product to Walmart and/or Sam’s Club have registered with
the FDA and have a current FDA bioterrorism registration number. Each operation that is approved and issued a vendor number is required to have an individual FDA registration. To ensure fresh produce Compliance, suppliers will provide this number to Walmart upon our request.  Licensing & Registration - Certain states have licensing and registration requirements above and beyond Federal registration requirements.  


BRC fresh produce compliance software for easy food safety fruit and vegetable packing and processing.  BRC fresh produce compliance software for food safety
The BRC Food Safety Standard can be used by any food processing operation where open food is handled, processed or packed. This could be from primary products such as fresh produce pack houses and slaughterhouses through to processed foods, canneries and ready to eat products. We’ve designed the BRC Food Safety Standard to help you establish good manufacturing practices so you’ll produce safe, legal products that meet the quality levels expected by your customers.

BRC fresh produce compliance
BRC fresh produce compliance

For any food safety system to be effective it’s essential the senior management team is fully committed to its application and continued development. The basis for the Food Safety System is an effective HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) program based on the requirements of the internationally recognised Codex Alimentarius system. Sets out expectations for the production environment including the layout and maintenance of the buildings and equipment, cleaning, pest control, waste management and foreign body controls.


BRC Sets out requirements for the management of food safety and quality, building upon the principles of ISO 9000. This includes requirements for product specifications, supplier approval, traceability, and the management of incidents and product recalls.



HACCP GLOBALGAP compliance for fruit packers - complete business management software for recall, audit, inventory, and traceability.  Hazard analysis and critical control points or HACCP is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe, and designs measurements to reduce these risks to a safe level. In this manner, HACCP is referred as the prevention of hazards rather than finished product inspection.

The HACCP system can be used at all stages of a food chain, from food production and preparation processes including packaging, distribution, etc. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) require mandatory HACCP programs for juice and meat as an effective approach to food safety and protecting public health.
Seafood and juice are regulated by the FDA. All other food companies in the United States that are required to register with the FDA under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, as well as firms outside the US that export food to the US, are transitioning to mandatory Hazard Analysis and Risk-based Preventive Controls (HARPC) plans.
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is a system that helps food business operators look at how they handle food and introduces procedures to make sure the food produced is safe to eat.

GFSI compliance for fruit and vegetable handling - complete business management software:  A food safety management scheme is ‘recognised’ by GFSI when it meets internationally recognised minimum food safety requirements, developed by multi stakeholders, which are set out in the GFSI Guidance Document | GFSI Benchmarking Requirements. GFSI is not a scheme in itself, and neither does it carry out any accreditation or certification activities.


Certification to a GFSI recognised scheme is achieved through a successful third party audit against any of the schemes listed as being recognised by GFSI. The third party companies that provide certification services are known as Certification Bodies (CBs). They are key stakeholders to GFSI and active participants, both in the professional network as well as in the GFSI Technical Working Groups. The Certification Bodies are authorised to audit against the recognised scheme through a formal agreement with the Scheme Owner (SO) combined with the scope of their accreditation.

Accreditation Bodies (ABs) are not-for-profit organisations, either government owned or under agreement with government, charged with ensuring that participating Certification Bodies in the country are subject to oversight by an authoritative body.

Accreditation Bodies may not be high profile in each country but they play a key role in the accredited certification process and ensuring international consistency in conformity assessment.

Due to complex challenges in today’s food supply chain, many of the world's largest food retailers are mandating supplier certification to Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) schemes, which include SQF, BRC, IFS, FSSC, GLOBALG.A.P. and BAP and CanadaGAP.

Fresh cut packing storage, sales & traceability: manage the entire fresh cut manufacturing, packing, and distribution processes with farmsoft Fresh Cut & Packing solutions.

Use farmsoft to manage the entire Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability packing operation for any Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability specialty products including spinach, baby kale, green coral, mignonette, butter lettuce, 4 leaf salads, baby cos, rocket, arugula, chives, basil, bunch dill, bunch kale curly, bunch kale deck, bunch mint, bunch silver-beet, bunch tarragon, bunch thyme, tuscan kale, chard, continental parsley, cochran iceberg, cochran cos, mizuna, chard, salad blends, organic salad packs, Asian mix, braising mix, frissee, organic raw, raddichio, Lollorosa, red romaine, spring mix, wild arugula.

Configure the ingredients for each Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability recipe, project the required materials, produce orders based on requirements (or schedule new harvests or new plantings) to ensure Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability packing is accurate and easy to manage.


Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability


The pack to order process for Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability salad loose leaf lettuce packing has never been easier with farmsoft. Mange traceability for mixed salad loose leaf lettuce packing, perform quality tests on incoming mixed salad loose leaf lettuce, and track quality back to the supplier from customer complaints/feedback.

Customers can use the portal to enter their Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability salad loose leaf lettuce orders online; give your customers a superior mixed salad loose leaf lettuce ordering experience. You can even collect customer feedback for mixed salad loose leaf lettuce products received by the customer in the mixed salad loose leaf lettuce portal.



Software solution to manage loose Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability lettuce > Reduce loose leaf lettuce waste, improve loose leaf lettuce traceability, ensure accurate & timely Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability orders.


Precoolers help produce and fresh cuts stay fresh longer
Forced-air precoolers are essential to grower-packers around the world, in order to preserve freshness and shelf-life for fruits, vegetables, and flowers. “The simple fact is that, the faster you remove the field heat, and get the perishable to ideal storage temperature,” explained Jim Still, president of Global Cooling Inc., “the more saleable weight you retain, and the longer shelf life you have.”



“We are seeing increased interest from a number of fresh cut processors and packers, for ‘re-cooling’” claimed Still. “When they select or pull their raw product from cold storage, be it fruit, vegetables, or dip” he explained, “nearly everything starts at the ideal long-term storage temperature. But then - before, during, and after cutting and / or packaging - the product temperature can creep up into the mid-40-degree-farenheit range, sometimes even a little hotter. This is not a good thing for freshness and shelf-life, not to mention the “sell by” dates.”





Jet precooler production run



“This is when our Precoolers can be used as ‘Re-Coolers’”, he explained. “So many facilities’ managers, have little option but to put the pallets of packaged fresh cut, into their cold rooms’ pallet racking, and leave it there overnight to cool back down.” This, according to Still, is not best practices, nor does it maximize the shelf-life of the products. “Those ‘Best if Used By Dates’ on the packaging,” he stated, “are only reliable if the cold chain is unbroken. And if the recooling time after packaging is too long, well….”, he hesitated, seeming to try to find the right words, “well, your shelf life is variable. “



“Our precoolers can re-cool palletized fresh cuts in one or two hours,” he claimed, “when set up in an existing cold room. Most often, additional refrigeration is not needed.” This is because, according to Still, the heat load coming off of fresh cuts “is much much less than with field temperature produce, often only 10-degrees-farenheit as opposed to 50- or 60-degrees. “ Still said that the speed of recooling with his equipment, “greatly simplifies the job of the operations manager, to have a predictable and reliable recooling time, instead of constantly checking on pallets every hour or two in cold storage to see how they are doing.”



Jet precooler recooling ripe avocados



Global’s precoolers are being used for other purposes, Still said, including drying onions, recooling ripened avocados, drying just-washed RPCs, recooling grapes and blueberries after fumigation, cooling cherries in MAP for export, and more. “Being located in Philadelphia, home of the cheese steak sandwich, “it is only a matter of time before we have a precooler used to temper beef before slicing,” he smiled.



“We have one customer that uses Jet-Ready Precoolers to speed-thaw pallets of frozen guacamole,” explained Still. “During peak avocado harvest time, they make a lot more guacamole than they can sell fresh, so the rest goes into frozen storage. And there is a lot of it,” he said. “Before they came to us, it was taking 30 days to thaw pallets of frozen product with room cooling, or maybe better put as ‘room thawing’, in a 34-degree-farenheit room. When you are shipping two truckloads a day, this meant that, at any given time, they might have as many as 1,200 pallets of product in cold storage, just slowly thawing. What a nightmare for operations, and what an expensive proposition.”



Jim Still and Haile Johnston of Common Market Philly



After purchasing three of Global’s Jet-Ready Precoolers, and putting them to work in their 34-degree rooms in Los Angeles, Houston, and Newark, the thawing process is now accomplished in 12 hours. “Talk about night and day,” beamed Still. “Can you just imagine the difference our Jets made to this customer? Instead of hundreds and hundreds of thawing pallets in the cold room, he has at most 40 on an average day. And think about what the speed thawing process does for saleable shelf life and food safety….” He concluded, his words left hanging in the air.



Global’s factory is located in the Philly Navy Yard Business Park, nearby to this week’s Democratic National Convention, just off Broad Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “The city has closed both off ramps from I-95 to South Broad Street,” said Still, “as part of their security efforts. It’s an inconvenience, but a small price to pay to help safeguard our liberties and freedom.”



At the Navy Yard, Global manufactures both the portable Jet-Ready, and the palletracking-based Rapid-Cool, Precoolers, both of which are steadily growing in popularity among growers and warehousemen alike. “It might seem incongruent that a postharvest company is based on the East Coast,” continued Still, “when so many of the farms are on the West Coast, Texas, Florida, Mexico, and the Caribbean.” “But I like to think that some other revolutionary and valuable ideas had Philadelphia as their birthplace too,” he grinned. “And fresh cut facilities are most often located close to the regions or cities that they serve,” he explained, “which means we have quite a few of them in the Philly, New York, Baltimore, Boston corridor.”

New integrated sorting system for fresh-cut apples introduced

Key Technology introduced its new sorting system for fresh-cut apple products. This versatile solution integrates Key’s Iso-Flo® shakers, rotary sizing and grading systems, belt conveyors and a VERYX® digital sorter. Removing pieces of stem, seeds, calyx/flower and core as well as foreign material and product defects like dark and light stains, rot and skin, this apple sorting line automates inspection to significantly improve overall product quality and increase yield while reducing labor requirements.

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability


“Until now, fresh-cut apple processors around the world have typically relied on manual inspection to achieve their quality objectives. With our new apple sorting line, they’re able to automate and transform their entire operation,” said Karel Van Velthoven, Advanced Inspection Systems Product Marketing Manager at Key. “Beyond improving product quality and reducing operating costs, this totally new sorting strategy massively increases product recovery. Before, people inspected halves or wedges, so a lot of good product was lost with each defect. By placing VERYX after the cutter, the sorter inspects smaller apple pieces such as cubes and strips - every defect that’s removed takes much less good product out with it.”

This integrated solution gently sorts peeled and skin-on apples, as well as pears, which are cut in a variety of sizes and shapes including cubes, strips and wedges. With VERYX sorters available in different sizes, Key can design apple sorting lines for processors with production capacities from 3 to 15 metric tons (6,600 to 33,000 lb.) per hour.

The new solution begins with belt conveyors that transfer whole, halved or sliced apples, after they are peeled and cored, to Key’s Sliver Sizer Remover (SSR), which mechanically removes fines that result from the peeling and coring process. The product then continues to either a cutter that cuts the apples into different sizes and shapes or, if already sliced, directly on to the sorter.

www.PreCoolers.net



Fresh-cut and ready-to-eat ranges will become more popular
Fresh-cut sales continue to increase and the phenomenon is expected to continue for the simple reason that very few families purchase them regularly.


"In 2017, the fresh-cut and ready-to-eat product trend has grown by 4% in both volume and value compared to 2016. Industrial brands have increased their share by 8% despite their market share already being 40%," explains AIIPA fresh-cut President Gianfranco D'Amico (in photo).



Aiipa presented a research from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan titled "Market positioning of fresh and ready-to-eat vegetable products within the retail industry."

Interviewees reported consuming single-variety (around 50%) and mixed salad bags (48%) occasionally (2/3 times a week) or often (almost every day). This is definitely a testimony to the trust people have for the category and its service content. The increase in vegetable consumption is due mainly to the "time for money" concept - people have less time to cook and therefore prefer products that are ready to eat (46%) with a practical packaging (30%).




"There is still a lot that needs to be done, but this is a stimulus to keep segmenting the supply. 80% of consumers see fresh-cut products on the shelves but still won't buy it. Companies need to invest in research to gain the favour of these consumers. We need to segment supplies and widen our range, but retailers need to play their part too."



By saying that "retailers need to play their part too", the president means that very little space is destined to refrigerated vegetables in supermarkets. Almost all vegetable processing facilities operate in controlled temperature conditions, but there are very few refrigerated counters in stores.



"The price of fresh-cut produce is a false problem, as consumers don't have an exact perception of the price of these products. They buy them but would not be able to say how much they cost. Even though price was reported as a factor that led to a reduced consumption of vegetables, consumers still wouldn't change their habits, even if the products cost less. Consumers are willing to pay what it takes to make their life easier. Soups and bowls are part of this reasoning as well."



Final hurdle removed for bananas in fresh-cut industry
The newest fresh-cut offerings include bananas. This fruit is very difficult to handle in the ready-to-eat segment, due to its rapid oxidation and degradation, but it was made possible by the Agribologna research and development department for the Fresco Senso brand.

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Desiree Magagnoli

"All the new Fresco Senso products - said Desiree Magagnoli, responsible for the fresh-cut area - are a proof of our strong vocation towards innovation. Specialists in the field are aware of how difficult it was to successfully overcome this challenge in the fresh-cut sector. It is no coincidence that we have invested three years in Research and Development in order to achieve this result. We can proudly say that we are the first in doing so".

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
"The sweet banana flavor will now better balance our mixed fruit products. The Aromi di Miele line is an additional and very satisfying achievement for us. It made up 15% of the total single-portion summer production for Fresco Senso. A very good result, if we think about the broad range of our summer assortment, so rich in single fruit and mixed proposals".

"The summer campaign - she added - was greatly successful with the many new watermelon proposals, which were very popular among consumers, as a result of the use of a particular low residual water content variety grown by the Agribologna members. Through these constant product innovations, Fresco Senso continues its ten-year long activity in pursuing excellence, a success story for the Agribologna Group".

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
2019 marks a very successful year for the fresh-cut fruit and vegetable brand, which will conclude with record numbers, given the very positive summer. Continuously new investments in the research and development of products and processes confirm this plant as the leading one in Italy in terms of production capacity. After being active for three years, Agribologna's Research & Development department has reached the goal of including bananas in the fresh-cut sector, while it has also expanded its range of 'Aromi di Miele' products. Total production is expected to be around 2.400 tons of fruit for the San Pietro in Casale group plant, which employs 100 specialized human resources.

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
The Fresco Senso brand is very respectful of the environment. All the new references (150 g mix) 'with banana' will be available in 'easy open' glass packages, made of R-PET, made of 20-30% of recycled material. From January, the two references 'Cuori di Frutta' will be equipped with a bamboo stick. The 'Energia e Gusto', will have a wooden fork. Commitment to research and environmental sustainability remains at the heart of Agribologna's projects.

Contact and information:
Consorzio Agribologna S.c.a.


Via delle Viti, 5
40127 Bologna (BO)
Phone.: +39 051 994 1200
Fax: +39 051 994 1220
Email: info@agribologna.it
Website: www.agribologna.it



"Fresh cut and ready-made products are no longer a trend, but a need"
At this year's edition of Fruit Attraction, there has been a noteworthy rise in the popularity of fresh cut and ready-made products. Among the new ones, Primeale has stood out with its innovative microwave range, with three kinds of potatoes in exclusive packaging, one of Brussels sprout hearts and another of Bobby beans that can be cooked after just two knife cuts.

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability

Left: David López Cerro, commercial and marketing director; right: Mikel Elorza, general director of Primeale.

Fresh cut products take hold at Fruit Attraction
Primeale has developed new products that facilitate the preparation of vegetables, and these are included in the Gourmet range. In addition to offering an innovative concept for cooking that helps the consumer enjoy a quality dish in just a few minutes, the greatest feature of the Primeale Gourmet brand is the quality of its carefully selected products.

For David López Cerro, commercial and marketing director of Primeale, the company's participation in this edition “has been our passage to adulthood. We are no longer just a producer of fresh, unprocessed products, and we are seeking to revolutionize the sector with new formats and innovative concepts when it comes to cooking.”

Among the new releases presented by Primeale there is a microwave range consisting of three references of Jazzy and Laurette potatoes with an exclusive packaging of kraft paper and another of Brussels sprouts hearts, in addition to Bobby beans ready to be cooked after just two knife cuts. “Customers who have visited us at our stand have seen this revolution and have expressed their satisfaction with our commitment and with the way we perceive the future of the category. We are very happy with the launch of the Primeale Gourmet brand and the drive towards innovation that it has given us,” said López Cerro.

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
"If your team believes in an idea, customers will too"
Regarding the brand attributes of Primeale Gourmet, which are in line with trends like convenience and practicality, Mikel Elorza, general director of Primeale España says: “If you want your clients to believe in your ideas, everyone at the company has to believe in them first. The launch of the Primeale Gourmet brand is the result of a necessary commitment from all workers to a premium range. It is a change of mentality in which we have been working for several years.”

Trends turned into needs
Healthy eating and the growing popularity of the fresh cut and ready-made range have been among the most visible trends at Fruit Attraction. In this regard, the fruit and vegetable sector has all the ingredients to lead the way towards healthy, tasty and practical alternatives for everyday use. It is a sector with the potential to continue growing and developing ideas and formats that adapt to consumer demands in terms of mobility, immediacy and health.

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
The functions of sustainable packaging
Sustainability in packaging is becoming increasingly important and there is an on-going search for materials that can replace plastic: paper, cardboard, recycled PET or even, as many suppliers exhibited at the fair, biodegradable formats made from organic substances.

"In this regard," says Primeale, "there is a considerable lack of information about the real implications of using one material or another, taking into account that packaging has several functions, including:

Protecting the quality of the raw material
Facilitating the product's transportation and distribution
Attracting the attention of the consumer
Providing information to the customers
And, in the case of microwaveable products, serving as a medium for cooking."
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Mikel Elorza, general director of Premiale, and Anylú Vidal, head of marketing and communication

Primeale España, a producer, packer and marketer in the fruit and vegetable sector, belongs to the second largest food cooperative group in France: Agrial. Its fresh division has three greatly recognized brands: Primeale for top-of-the-range vegetables, Florette for washed and ready-to-eat salads, and Créaline for already cooked creams and soups.

In Spain, Primeale has facilities and production areas in two locations: Jerez de la Frontera, in the province of Cádiz, and Portillo, in Valladolid.

A wide range of vegetables are cultivated, including carrots, leeks, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts, beans of special varieties, such as Bobby or Kenya, garden peas, tear peas or radishes, as well as products with greater added value, such as the Jazzy potatoes of the microwave range, and the Brussels sprouts hearts marketed under the Primeale and Primeale Gourmet brands.

More information:
Anylú Vidal

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability

Head of marketing and communication
Primeale
Ctra. Nueva Jarilla, Km 1,2
11591 Gualdalcacín
Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz. Spain
T: +34 956 15 77 49
anvidal@primeale.es
www.primeale.es



Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
A conveyor then carries the apple cubes, strips, dices or wedges to an Iso-Flo infeed shaker that spreads the product for presentation to a mechanical Precision Size Grader (PSG), which removes small pieces that are generated in the cutting process. Next, a Key Iso-Flo dewatering shaker removes any residual water while spreading and singulating product to feed the downstream VERYX sorter.

VERYX can also be equipped with Key’s powerful Information Analytics software, which allows users to analyze and share big data across their enterprise via an OPCUA-compliant infrastructure. Data about the sort process and about each and every object flowing through the sorter, whether the data is used to make sort decisions or not, is available to reveal patterns, trends and associations to optimize processes upstream and downstream of the sorter.


Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
For more information:
Shayla Wentz
Key Technology
Tel: +1 509 529 2161
Email: swentz@key.net
www.key.net





“Especially now, offering fresh-cut pineapple cut from a machine is very popular”
While the pandemic has brought many changes to all levels of the produce industry supply chain, for Piñabar, the machine that cuts pineapples for consumers inside of grocery stores, the disruption has fortunately been minimal. Michel van Keeken explains: “We saw the initial dip, like everyone did, but we actually resumed normal operations quite quickly. At the start, everyone was being extra cautious, but after about a month and a half we saw everything start back up.”

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
High retail movement and pineapple surplus
For Piñabar, there were a few aspects which helped increase their popularity in the past few months. While there are opportunities for Piñabar in the foodservice industry, the company is currently working mainly with retailers and the machine is present in supermarkets and grocery stores. Van Keeken says: “The supermarkets of course continued to run at full speed, and often at an even higher speed than normal. This gave them the room to continue their investments quite quickly after the outbreak of the pandemic.”

With the loss of the foodservice industry, which was a major outlet for pineapple producers, there was also a slight oversupply of pineapples in the market. “This made retailers more interested in the machines: they had more product to sell, and we have the numbers to prove that more pineapples are sold when there is a Piñabar in the store,” Van Keeken shares.

Focus on food safety
During the pandemic, even though it has been made clear by authorities that the coronavirus is not foodborne, the consumer focus on food safety has increased. This can be seen in the trend toward increased packaging rather than the ‘naked’ produce items and has also been experienced first-hand by Piñabar. “We saw in multiple countries that there was an interest for the Piñabar because the stores wanted to offer fresh-cut pineapple, but they wanted to ensure that the consumers felt that the product was safe,” says Van Keeken. “So, having a machine cut up the pineapple rather than a person helps make the consumers feel more secure in the food safety of their pineapples.”

The machine was developed with food safety at the top of mind and Piñabar even offers models that can be used with minimal touching: “We have a model where the lid opens automatically through the push of a button. If the consumer pushes the button with their elbow, then there really is minimal chance of any sort of contamination,” Van Keeken explains.

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Expansion in the US market
The Piñabar is distributed throughout the world and Van Keeken has noticed that some markets recovered faster than others. “The Asian market hasn’t really fully returned to normal yet, and in the US it depends on the state. Right now, we are in a testing phase with a major retailer in the US: they have a Piñabar in their highest performing store in every state. The first phase was very successful and we’re now moving into the next phase.” The Piñabar is already available in stores throughout the US: “They have proven to be popular in Chicago, on the West Coast, and on the southern East Coast.”

“One consideration is the size of the machine: it’s pretty big and so in New York City, for example, it’s not practical to have it in the supermarkets because there is limited space.” With this in mind, Piñabar is planning on releasing a new, smaller model of the machine this year. “This version can be put on top of a table or a bar, and will really expand the possibilities of the machine,” Van Keeken concludes.


For more information:
Michel Van Keeken
Dutch Food Technology
Tel: +31 434100044
Email: michel@dutchfoodtechnology.com
www.pinabar.org



Sales of fresh-cut fruit picking up again
“We are fortunate that the majority of our business across Europe is with grocery retailers and not with food service – which has been especially hard hit. Just before the lock down we did gain a major new food service customer but that has been put on hold for the moment,” said Simon Derrick from Blue Skies who supply fresh cut fruit, fresh juice and dairy free ice cream to the retail trade.

“People are still buying fresh cut fruit, but the demand for “Food to Go” products, such as smaller fruit packs and sandwiches, has fallen with the reduction in people buying their lunch ‘on the go’! Across Europe we saw overall sales go up just before the lock downs came into place but they then declined steeply to the point where overall we were down by over 30%.”

According to Simon people are still buying pre-prepared fruit, because it’s healthy and convenient and also possibly because of the perceived standards. “We are seeing sales picking up again – with overall volumes rising by 15% in the last ten days. It is interesting that we are still seeing stronger sales growth in Europe (with the exception of France) than in the UK - in Belgium and Holland we have seen a quicker recovery to almost normal trading. These differences could be down to individual country’s lock down measures or consumers simply settling into a new way of shopping after a few weeks of this new normal.”

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Due to the short shelf-life of fresh cut fruit a good logistical chain is essential to get the product to market quickly, and Blue Skies relies primarily on airfreight.

“We would normally load our fruit into the cargo holds of passenger planes, but of course there are not many passenger flights in the air just now. Our products only have a 7-day shelf life, so sea freight is not an option for us. We have therefore had to completely rethink our logistics from one which was reliant on passenger aircraft to one which can now use freighters. We are fortunate to have an amazing team who have worked miracles for us in order to secure the freight capacity we need”

Sourcing from overseas:
Blue Skies source from a network of factories across Africa and South America, including Ghana, Egypt, South Africa and Brazil. With border restrictions and aircraft movements affecting countries in different ways, it has put increased pressure on the company’s logistics. “Fortunately, with the flexibility our model gives us, we have been able to work around the restrictions by moving production where necessary and adapting to use available airfreight capacity. It’s been tough going, but we’ve made it work.”

The company also recently opened a new state of the art factory in Benin, West Africa. “We are very excited about this new facility” says Simon. “Not only will it expand our capacity and sourcing flexibility, but it will also be a flagship in terms of green credentials for Blue Skies as it incorporates new technology and processes that allow us to significantly reduce water, plastic and chemical usage.”

Blue Skies is also fortunate to have the safety net of factory in the UK, which was opened 10 years ago after the Icelandic volcano disruption. “That was a big lesson for our business, because at that time we were entirely reliant on our overseas factories and then the skies over Europe shut down for a week - and a week without being able to supply retailers is a long time. Now, although the skies have shut down in terms of passenger flights, we still have cargo capacity and the facility in the UK. You could argue that the overall situation is much worse this time, but we are still managing to supply our retailers across Europe either by using freighters or by using imported whole fruit and preparing it in the UK.”

The UK factory was set up as a contingency for a situation such as this - but also plays an important role in normal times assembling fruit mixes from different sources and developing new product ideas with our customers for producing in our factories across the world.

Queens Award for Enterprise
On a very positive note Blue Skies was awarded its fourth Queens Award for Enterprise in the Sustainable Development category.

The award recognises the development of the company’s pioneering sustainability plan, called the Blue Skies ‘Blueprint’. This is a set of commitments for People, Planet and Profit, designed to ensure the business can meet the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The Blueprint is created through the company’s ‘Measure Engage Action’ methodology, which enables the business to operate a cycle of continuous improvement based on being able to understand our impact, define our priorities and quickly implement actions to improve.

Chairman and Founder, Anthony Pile said “The principles of sustainable development are firmly embedded within our business, however we know there are growing issues of interest among our stakeholders, such as plastics, waste, and carbon emissions. Our Blueprint enables us to escalate focus on the most important areas and accelerate ideas and projects that will enable us to lead the way.”

For more information:
Simon Derrick
Blue Skies
simon.derrick@blueskies.com
www.blueskies.com




Shelf life extends in fresh cut
A long standing exhibitor at Fruit Logistica, Stepac, a part of DS Smith, Plastics Division is the manufacturer of Xtend® modified atmosphere / modified humidity freshness packaging solutions which is currently used in over 60 countries worldwide. StePac is pleased to unveil to the fresh produce industry two new exciting products: retail modified atmosphere packaging solutions for fresh cut vegetables and bulk modified atmosphere packaging for table grapes without sulfur pads.

“The results of applying Xtend modified atmosphere packaging technology to prolong the shelf life of fresh cut vegetables is very exciting”, says StePac’s Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Gary Ward, “We are seeing great results and the unique qualities of Xtend fresh cut retail packaging allow it to outsell that of competitor packed fresh cut vegetables in Brazil and Argentina.”

Engineered to meet the specific conditions needed for each produce item, Xtend Fresh Cut retail packaging is available for a variety of cut and leafy vegetables.

The specific climate of the grape growing regions of Peru have given rise to the development of Xtend bulk modified atmosphere packaging exclusive for Peruvian grapes as an alternative to using sulfur pads during long term storage and transportation. “Peruvian grape growers stand to benefit greatly by using Xtend packaging instead of sulfur pads since it reduces the occurrence of fruit bleaching and stem dehydration during typical supply chains from Peru. We expect this to be received favorably, especially in light of calls to ban the use of sulfur pads,” Says Dr. Gary Ward,” The packaging is now successfully being used in commercial shipments from Peru.”



The StePac team looks forward to meeting existing and prospective customers and business partners to share and discuss with them the use of StePac’s Xtend modified atmosphere/ modified humidity freshness packaging solutions and the opportunities that they provide.

Find us at Fruit Logistica Berlin from February 4-6 at the Messe Convention Center, Hall 3-2, booth C-21. To book a meeting, send an email to info@stepac.com .

Fresh-cut: Market demand for new range of antioxidants
Food Freshly will be bringing new solutions to Berlin. The German-based company is developing antioxidants that extend the shelf-life and improve the quality of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables.

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
“Apart from traditional applications like apple slices, we are seeing a growing demand for innovative fresh-cut items such as bananas, avocado, and guacamole”, explains Benjamin Singh, Director of Technical Sales at Food Freshly. “Enzymatic browning and shelf-life are crucial challenges when it comes to processing these varieties. Therefore, Food Freshly has developed solutions, that help the industry to achieve up to 12 days of shelf-life for processed bananas and avocados.”

Furthermore, the company provides antioxidants for fresh-cut apples, pears, salads, and many other varieties. The products are harmless alternatives to preservatives and sulphites, and some are certified organic in the EU, the US, and Canada.

Food Freshly will be exhibiting at this year’s Fruit Logistica in Berlin in Hall 21, C-06.

For more information:
Benjamin Singh
Food Freshly AFC GmbH
Tel: +49 521 96 8787 15
Email: benjamin.singh@food-freshly.eu
www.food-freshly.eu



5th international online course on postharvest & fresh-cut technologies
The ‘5th International on-line Course on Postharvest & Fresh-cut Technologies’ will be offered starting in February by the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena in Spain. A total of 41 prestigious professors from the 5 continents, 20 countries and 30 universities or research centers will be the instructors. It consists of 50 recorded videos of 30 min that the participant will be able to watch at his/her convenience as many times as needed and finish the Course according to his/her availability up to 30th September 2020.

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
In previous editions, more than 80 participants from 40 countries have already participated. The Course has constituted a forum of professional excellence aimed at training technicians and managers of postharvest companies, professionals, researchers and students from all over the world.

To view the entire course program, click here.

For more information:

Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability
Fresh cut packing, storage, fresh cut sales & traceability




Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena
Email: postharvest@upct.es
www.upct.es



Fresh cuts benefit from new, more-powerful Precooler/Recooler
The shelf-life of fresh-cut is more important than for fresh, because the price per pound is higher, and therefore waste and markdowns are more costly, the shelf-life is usually less to start with, and because of risk of foodborne illnesses if left too warm too long.



The “Fresh-Cut Precooler” is the newest innovation from industry-leader Global Cooling Inc., based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to inventor and company president James D Still, “our Fresh-Cut Precooler has 40 horsepower of fan power and delivers 50,000 cfm (cubic feet per minute). This assures that all fresh-cut produce packages can receive at least four or five cfm per pound, and be cooled just as fast as humanly possible.”



According to the FDA, holding fresh-cut produce at appropriate cold storage temperatures reduces the potential for microbial growth. In the USDA guide for defects in fresh cut produce, the majority of those listed can be related to improper temperature.



“Especially now that consumers are so organic-focused,” Still continued, “recooling of freshcut with forced-air is naturally an organic preservative, and modified atmosphere films work best when the produce is optimally cooled first”. The rate of respiration of fresh produce is inversely related to product shelf-life, which means that a higher respiration rate decreases shelf-life. Fresh fruits and vegetables that have been cut or otherwise physically altered will have increased respiration, and thus, a shorter shelf-life.





Fresh-cut Precooler in action at Sunny Ridge, Australia



Thus far, Jet Heavy-Duty precoolers are in use in Hawaii and Australia, where produce is even more costly than most mainland areas and countries. “The extra airflow from the Fresh-Cut precooler means retaining the freshest possible fresh-cut product for the longest possible time,” Still concluded.



At regional fresh processing centers, as the fresh-cut bags or clamshells are aggregated into cartons or RPCs, and then palletized for shipment to distribution centers, Global's new precoolers are placed in a nearby cold storage room, and provide for a forced-air precooling tunnel, instead of just using room cooling.



“With the heavier-duty Fresh-Cut precooler,” said Still, “final cooling or recooling is achieved almost twice as fast as with our Jet-Ready model, all other things being equal. “





Fresh-cut Precooler in action at Able Freight, Hawaii



Global Cooling Inc. manufactures the Jet-Ready, Jet-Heavy Duty, and Jet-Ripe portable precoolers, as well as the Rapid-Cool 2- and 3-tier high pallet racked precoolers.



“Our Jet Precoolers are made in America,” explained Global’s Vice President Jim J. Still, “right here in Philadelphia at the Philly Navy Yard business park. All of our components are the best that money can buy, and our portables are amazingly powerful, we consistently outperform bunker wall systems and farm‐built box fans time after time.



For more information:

Jim Still

Global Cooling Inc.

Tel: +1-844-858-4621

Solutions@Pre-Coolers.net

www.PreCoolers.net



Dole Fresh Cuts optimising supply chain
The Swedish subsidiary of Dole Food Company, Inc. will implement an IFS solution for the production and distribution of FMCG products.



IFS, a global provider of enterprise software, announced that Dole Fresh Cuts has decided to replace obsolete business systems with IFS Applications 9. The company's goal is to optimise the supply chain and workflows.



After analysing the solutions offered by different firms, Dole Fresh Cuts has selected IFS Applications 9, which will enable it to streamline its procurement and inventory processes, forecasting and production planning, distribution and financial invoicing support. Later on, the IFS comprehensive solution will include product development and quality management.



"Our goal is to implement a single, standardised ERP solution that will replace our outdated business systems. IFS Applications 9 stands out as the best fit to manage and improve our workflow and productivity. We are looking forward to the additional functionalities of IFS, because of the growing dynamics and rising needs of our operations," stated Stefan Grahn, managing director at Dole Fresh Cuts.





Source: portalspozywczy.pl



Global Cooling Inc. - Simply Powerful Precoolers –

Jim Still

Media, PA 19063 USA

Phone: 1-844-858-4621

www.PreCoolers.net

Saba Fresh Cuts OY announces ISO22000 certification
Saba Fresh Cuts OY, the Fresh Cuts plant of Dole in Finland has received from DNV Assurance the ISO22000 certification that reflects its full compliance with HACCP standards and food safety procedures.

"This certification is a recognition of the efforts of all our teams to reach excellence at every step of the production process and an uncompromising approach to food safety," says Stefan Grahn, General Manager at Saba Fresh Cuts. "This is an important achievement for Saba Fresh Cuts in Finland and an outstanding performance from our QA team led by Essi Martonen."



"We have been very pleased with the growth of our business in Finland since we took over in 2011," says Site Manager Pekka Vanhakylä. "Our turnover more than doubled between 2012 and 2013 and we can still see potential for further growth. We have elevated this plant to the highest international standards and are packing an increasing range of products. Thanks to the cooperation between Sweden and Finland we can offer the best processes for each product, while our location in Finland gives our customers a shorter lead time and fresher overall product. Our introduction of freshly cut fruits and vegetables, along with specialities such as cooking greens and wasabi rucola, has strengthened our position within Foodservice. It takes time for consumers to switch to our products but once they do, they change their purchasing behaviour for good. "

For more information:
Stefan Grahn
Saba Fresh Cuts OY
Tel : +46(0)42.24.96.00
Email: stefan.grahn@saba.se
www.saba.se





Saba Fresh Cuts AB & Saba Fresh Cuts OY
Dole Food Company sells Fresh Cut businesses in Sweden and Finland
Yesterday, Dole Food Company, Inc., announced that there is an agreement to sell Saba Fresh Cuts AB and Saba Fresh Cuts OY to BAMA International.

Saba Fresh Cuts AB -with production facilities in Helsingborg Sweden- and Saba Fresh Cuts OY -with production facilities in Espoo Finland- are producers of washed and ready-to-eat salads. The companies prepare and sell various fresh-cut salads and vegetables to the retail and foodservice industry in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany and the Baltic States.

The sale of Saba Fresh Cuts AB was a necessary condition of the European Commission’s approval of the investment by Total Produce into Dole in July 2018.

“I am very pleased with the outcome of this sale in meeting the EU’s requirement,” said Mr. Johan Linden, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dole Food Company, “and I am confident that Saba Fresh Cuts will be in good hands under BAMA’s ownership.”

“We are pleased to announce this agreement with Dole for Saba Fresh Cuts. Convenience products and ready-to-eat salads and vegetables is a fast growing category in all markets, and Saba Fresh Cuts is a solid and very professional player, with a strong organization and high-quality products. We look forward to working together,” added Rune Flaen, Chief Executive Officer of BAMA Group.

According to apnews.com¸ the transaction is expected to close in Q1 2019 and is subject to approval by the European Commission. Dole was advised by investment bank and financial services company Houlihan Lokey in this transaction.



Salad manufacturing & processing for food service
The best salad dressings are those that enhance the overall taste while still allowing the individual salad components to shine. Today many varieties of salad dressings and sauces can be found everywhere which means we can add interesting twists and flavors to our salads and other dishes. Therefore, MF Food has presented its wide unique range of salad dressing that cater to all its customer’s desire. We always pay special attention to those who appreciate authentic culinary tastes. With MF, the salad dressing manufacturing company, you will enjoy a superb experience of authentic dressings with delectable taste. It all starts with adding a drizzle of dressing on your salad and enjoy the unique flavors and authentic ingredients. Whether it is for drizzling or dipping, our dressings are all authentic and we have customers all over the Middle East . Offering a wide range of tastes, these dressings will bring joy to your dining table. MF, the salad dressing manufacturing company has presented over 15 salad dressings to compliment every healthy occasion or side dish. From Original Italian Dressing to exquisite Dynamite Sauce, passing by all types of BBQ sauces, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Caesar Dressing, Marinades Sauces and more, they are an essential accompaniment for a specialty dish. Discover a whole new world of Dressings & Sauces with our inspired simple yet delicious recipes from MF, the salad dressing manufacturing company.

Salad manufacturing & processing for food service
Salad manufacturing & processing for food service
Salad & fresh cut manufacturing
Fresh cut salad provides many challenges especially with spinach, watercress, rucola, delicate lettuce or even onions, radishes and beetroot. Our advanced salad processing equipment has been revolutionising fresh cut production lines across the globe for 3 decades.

Our salad processing systems start with line input through to fresh cut washing, fresh cut drying, fresh cut grading, fresh cut optical sorting and fresh cut packing stations. Whilst we don’t manufacture most of the OEM supplied machinery on your line, we are an integral part of your production line ensuring a smooth and well-connected transition through each process.

We’re the trusted suppliers of processing equipment to some of the biggest names in the salad industry, right through to aspirational family businesses. We have a proven ability to make businesses better – less wasteful, more efficient, and more profitable.



A Guide to Food Manufacturers: Deli Salads
Salad manufacturing & processing for food service
Salad manufacturing & processing for food service
Salads are mixtures of minimally processed ready-to-eat vegetables with or without dressing. Other common ingredients are fruits, poultry, meat, seafood, egg, pasta, herbs, nuts or cooked vegetables. Salads are usually served cold. As the ingredients are not cooked and the preparation requires a lot of handling, the risk will be largely increased if the salads are not handled properly. To ensure the safety of salads, food handlers should be alert to the possible food safety problems and take appropriate measures in the production. Food handlers should adopt the control measures as identified in the following.















Deli Salad manufacture storage guidelines:
Problems: Presence of harmful bacteria, chemical and foreign materials.

Control:

Purchase raw materials from reputable and approved source.
Inspect raw materials on arrival to ensure that
there are no signs of contamination or damage to the raw materials;
chilled items (e.g. meat, seafood and cut vegetables and fruits) are delivered at 4oC or below and frozen items at frozen state and are free from observable evidence of temperature abuse.
Salad storage
Problems: Growth of harmful bacteria and cross-contamination.

Control:

Store deliveries immediately and at proper temperatures (chilled items at 4oC or below; frozen items at -18oC or below).
Practice first-in-first-out stock rotation.
Keep raw materials covered/wrapped until use.
Store ready-to-eat and raw foods separately.
Salad preparation
Problems: Presence of harmful bacteria in raw materials, growth of harmful bacteria and cross-contamination.

Control:

Cook all ingredients (e.g. eggs, chicken and beef) thoroughly.
Use pasteurised eggs or egg products to prepare salad dressings.
When washing vegetables and fruits, pay attention to the followings:
wash them thoroughly and, as far as practicable, in a sink exclusively for this use.
replace water at a sufficient frequency to prevent spreading of microbial contaminants.
choose appropriate disinfectants and follow manufacturers' instructions (e.g. methods, quantities specified, etc.) if disinfectants are used.
Store salad dressings at 4oC or below once their packages are opened.
Keep finished products, which are not for immediate consumption, at 4oC or below.
Avoid holding chilled ingredients and finished products at above 4oC for more than two hours.
Label prepackaged salad with a "use-by" date and a statement of storage condition.
Use separate equipment and utensils to handle ready-to-eat and raw foods to avoid cross-contamination.
Keep equipment and utensils clean and in good condition.
Maintain good personal hygiene (e.g. wash hands frequently, wear clean protective clothing, etc.) at all times.
Salad distribution and display
Problems: Growth of harmful bacteria and cross-contamination.

Control:

Distribute and display finished products in a proper manner and at 4oC or below to protect them from contamination and deterioration.
Distribute and sell finished products in a first-in-first-out basis.
Self-serve salad bars
Problems: Growth of harmful bacteria and cross-contamination.

Control:

Display salad ingredients in a proper manner and at 4oC or below to protect them from contamination and deterioration.
Provide sufficient number of tongs or ladles with long handles and replace them with clean ones when appropriate (e.g. at 4 hour interval). Remove contaminated tongs and ladles (e.g. those dropped onto the floor) from the salad bar area immediately.
Display ingredients in small portions and avoid topping up with fresh ones.
Discard leftovers.
Supervise the salad bar area by appropriately trained staff to protect the food against contamination by customers.
Salad management system

Implement a preventive food safety management system (such as the HACCP-based Food Safety Plan) to identify and control food safety problems at every stage of the food manufacturing process. The world production of salad and especially the production of lettuce, is estimated to be around22,253,266 tons (FAO, 2008). China ranks first in the world production of salad, with 12,505,500 tons of salad produced, followed by the United States, with 4,014,590 tons, Spain, with 1,002,800 tons Italy, with 847,666 tons and India, with 790,00 tons of salad produced (FAO, 2008). As to hectares , in 2009 in China, 550,265 hectares was assigned to the production of salad; in the United States, the same year, 110,966 hectares where cultivated with salad, of which 70% produced in California.


Also the production of salad in greenhouses, more and more increasing, is around 56,000 tons in Holland, ( quantity more than twice that produced in open field), 40,000 tons in Spain ad 18,000 tons in England. Follow, with lower figures the productions of salad in greenhouses of Germany and Denmark.


Salads, among the main and most important fresh vegetables with cutting leaves, have seen a more and more increasing extension of the cultivated areas in several countries of th Mediterranean, because of the increasing demand of these fruit and vegetable products by 4th range industries, interested in the packaging of salad in bags and in the packaging of other fruit and vegetable products already washed and cut, salad on the fruit and vegetable market ready for .consumption.


Among the European countries that produce fresh fruits and vegetables, Spain ranks first, followed by Italy, France, Germany Greece and Poland.


Spain holds the record for the European production of salad with 850 million tons produced (average of the period 2008-2010), followed by Italy, with 490 million tons and by France, with 315 million tons produced. The world production of salad and especiallu the production of lettuce, is estimated to be around22,253,266 tons (FAO, 2008). China ranks first in the world production of salad, with 12,505,500 tons of salad produced, followed by the United States, with 4,014,590 tons, Spain, with 1,002,800 tons Italy, with 847,666 tons and India, with 790,00 tons of salad produced (FAO, 2008). As to hectares , in 2009 in China, 550,265 hectares wese assigned to the production of salad; in the United States, the same year, 110,966 hectares where cultivated with salad, of which 70% produced in California.



In Europe, the most high volumes of the production of salad are exported to the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Belgium, while Germany appears to be the country that imports the most , followed by the importations of salad of France and Englad. In general, in Europe, the import of salad, the import of iceberg salad and the import of lettuce have overall increased.

Italy is a great exporter of salad on the European fruit and vegetable market: with production of salads in greenhouses, to the markets of Germany and Austria.
Exports of Italian salad affect in particular some regions, more active in the sector of lcune regioni, più attive per exports, including Puglia, Marche and Abruzzo.
Instead, as to imports of fresh vegetables and fresh salad, Italy imports, on average around 3,000 tons a year, especially from France (data 2008) In Italy the . In Italia wholesale fruit and vegetable markets which absorb the largest amount of imports of European salad are, in descending order, Milan, Turin, Rome and Bologna, with a fivefold increase in prices at home..
The higher monthly per capita consumption of salad occurs in the United States, with about 11 kg, followed by France (about 7 kg), Italy (5 kg) and the Netherlands(3 kg).

Croatia in a great importer of salad, coming especially from Denmark.

In 2010, Spain exported 584,018 tons of lettuce, of which 381,027 tons of iceberg lettuce Considering the total amount exported, Germany and the Unite Kingdom were the main recipients of the Spanish esportations of salads : they alone account for 55% of the imports of salad in Europe. In particular, in 2008, German consumers bought 236,686 tons of lettuce, while the United Kingdom consumed 172,414 tons.
In Germany, the iceberg lettuce is 68% of the total consumption of fresh vegetables in leaves, with 3 kg per capita on total consumption of lettuce in the European fruit and vegetable market.

In 2011, the export of salad to Italy received a great boost thanks to low prices of the Netherlands: Italy became in this way the most natural destination for the export of Dutch salad. The volume of exported salad increased from 30 to 40% compared to the previous year (2010)
Because of very low prices, Italians gladly bought good quality Dutch fruit and vegetable products, even though Italy, since the high percentage of fruit and vegetable products produced and the records of production in almost all fruit and vegetable products cultivated, still remains a very small country that exports salad.

Also imports of salads and imports of fresh vegetables in Ukraine increased more than twice during the quarter of 2011, and octal imports in the first 10 months of the season 2010/2011 showed a growth year after year by

Nowadays, the trend of demand in the international fruit and vegetable market is oriented towards the production of fresh and quality vegetables; farmers and the fruit and vegetable companies can answer to this demand with two solutions: providing the quality asked for by the fruit and vegetable market and elevating the production and the productivity of their fruit and vegetable products.



These two requirements can occur through the use vegetable cultivations in protected environments: technology, in fact, today provides knowledge and tools that allow an almost complete control of the cultivation conditions in order to obtain productions of fresh vegetables and salads suitable to the demand of the fruit and vegetable market.
Today, growing fresh vegetables is no more possible only in the warmer time of the year: cultivations in greenhouses, in fact, can extend the planting and harvesting season throughout the year, including winter. The vegetables cultivated in greenhouses have undoubtedly higher costs compared to those grown in open fields, but the have considerable advantages: they allow also to save money, are of a superior quality in shapes, dimensions and colours, as growing conditions are more controlled and pesticides are not used; furthermore the harvesting period of each variety is significantly extended, including salad and its numerous varieties.
The cultivation of salad in greenhouses has begun to increase in the European fruit and vegetable sector in particular: greenhouses consist of tunnels, formed by iron supports covered with plastic sheeting, unheated or heated. They permit to grow salad and vegetables in record time, while protecting crops from cold and snails, and ensuring the aeration of crops thanks to a performed sheet.

Usually, the cultivation of salad in greenhouses is done in winter, while in spring gives way to other fruit and vegetable products, such as tomatoes and peppers.
In Italy in 2002, 3,456 hectares of land were used for the cultivation of salad in greenhouses, which provided a total production of 113,873 tons of salad ad a harvested production of 110,480 tons.
Climate, even if not the only one, is certainly a factor which strongly influence's the cost of the production of salad and production of vegetables by producers and fruit and vegetable companies: the cultivation of salad in greenhouses (as of other fruit and vegetable products) is an excellent solution to overcome this difficulty, as greenhouses give to the farmer or to the producer of salad the chance to control temperatures.
The current situation of greenhouses in Europe leads us to consider the need to improve the production structures and create structures that can manage and control climate.

Production techniques in protected environments (greenhouses) differ a lot from those typical of the open field cultivations, as in greenhouses the environmental can be modified in order to maximize the productivity of crops.

In Central and Northern Europe the predominant trend is towards a total control of the environment in greenhouses in order to achieve the potential production of the crop. As a consequence, the evolution of greenhouses took place in parallel with the onset of advanced technology systems (computer air conditioning, , hydroponic cultivations and robotics).
Otherwise, in countries with Mediterranean climate, the widespread presence of greenhouses characterized by lightweight structures has led to the development of cultivation techniques that enhance the adaptation of cultivations to a sub-optimal and only partially controlled environment.. In these areas, as there is less control of the greenhouse environment, the cultivation itself plays a predominant role in the microclimate, defining it through gas exchanges.
Among the means used to protect cultivations of salad in greenhouses from climate adversities, the greenhouse is certainly the best mean that can be adopted, as it offers the best opportunity of isolating the plants of salad from the external environment, by a more or less complete conditioning of the internal climate: : recently, in the constant research and experimantation t improve productivity of the cultivations in greenhouses, photovoltaic instruments, for example, have been very successful, allowing many farmers, producers of salad and fruit and vegetable companies to follow the development of certain fruit and vegetable products, among which stand out the production of salad, using innovative engineering solutions such as photovoltaic systems.
Always in the field of control of temperatures and climate as to the cultivations of salad in greenhouses, in addition to what was said on photovoltaic systems, other useful tools include heating systems (radiators, heaters, air heaters, gas stoves, etc.), cooling systems for cultivations of salad (windows in the side walls and on the roof to allow air exchangeby natural or forced ventilation, shading nets or sheets, cooling systems through heat pumps, etc.), the use of windbreaks, useful to reduce heat losses by conduction through the walls in case of cold winds, systems for moisture control and finally systems for the control of lighting og the cultivations of salad produced in greenhouses.
As to the cultivation of salad, the most widespread varieties for the production of salad in greenhouses are:
BATAVIA FUNSONG SALAD: variety of gentling lettuce for greenhouses, for fall, winter and early spring harvesting. It is a flexible, hardy and very productive plant od salad even in cold conditions and low light. It has an elegant, open and bright green head, The bottom is tight and has a very small core. This variety of salad has a high resistance to the adversities and parasites. It suits well to the fresh fruit and vegetable market.
BATAVIA CANASTA SALAD: variety of Batavia lettuce suitable to spring, summer and fall harvesting in the open field and to winter harvesting in greenhouses. It is a very productive plant of salad, with a large and thick foliage and an intense green head with red margins, sweet and cris. It is suitable to the fresh fruit and vegetable market.
BAGLIN HEAD SALAD: head lettuce for greenhouses suitable to winter harvesting. It is a plant of salad with an excellent weight and a high volume, an elegant posture that permits considerable uniformity at the time of cutting. The intense green head is semi-open, with an excellent heart, It suits both to the fresh fruit and vegetable market and to the 4th range production of salad.
ROMAN SELE LETTUCE: variety of Roman lettuce for greenhouses auditable to harvesting from fall to late spring. It an erected and elegant plant of salad. Leaves are bright green, blistering, hardy and crisp. The head is compact and heavy with a large bottom and tight. It suits well to the fresh fruit and vegetable market.
ROMAN PRESIDENTIAL LETTUCE: variety of Roman lettucelettuce suitable for spring, early summer and fall harvesting in open fields and for spring and fall harvesting in greenhouses. It is underacted and elegant plant of salad that is uniform at the time of cutting. Bright green leaves are hardy and blistered. The head is open and heavy, full inside and voluminous. This variety of salad has a high resistance to adversities and parasites. It suits to the fresh fruit and vegetable market.
ROMAN VOLTURNO LETTUCE: variety of Roman lettuce for greenhouses suitable for winter harvesting. It is and erected and elegant plant of salad Its light green leaves are almost smooth and velvety. The head is compact with a large and tight bottom. It suit to the fresh fruit and vegetable market.
ROMAN SIVNA LETTUCE (LS8865): variety of Roman lettuce typical of southern Italian tradition, suitable to late fall, early winter an spring harvesting in open field and to winter harvesting in greenhouses. It has high production levees and a high resistance to over-ripening. It is a plant of salad with a high posture, dark green, hardy and blistered leaves. The head is very heavy and voluminous with a semi-open heart, full inside. It suits to the fresh fruit and vegetable market.







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