U.K.: CPM awaits EU approval for berry that officially 'doesn't exist'
AG Thames subsidiary CPM Retail has been growing an antioxidant-rich berry in U.K. and Poland that is not yet recognized as a food in the EU. The company's production of haskap, also known as the blue honeysuckle, has so far been soldĀ mostly in Canada but the group is on the hunt for new export markets as cultivation ramps up.
"In the U.K. it's treated likeĀ a novel food, like a berry that doesnāt exist," says CPM berry division supply chain director Rachel Montague-Ebbs.Ā
Speaking with www.freshfruitportal.com during Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong, she saidĀ the berry - native to Japan and far eastern Russia - looked like an elongated blueberry with a flavor that was kind of a mix of raspberries and elderflowers.
"It's got twice asĀ many antioxidants as wild blueberries and three times as much ironĀ so itās really popular in the health conscious countries," she said, adding it was also perceived as beneficial for eyesight in JapanĀ .
"We'reĀ trying to sell it in Japan where itās already grown and weāve been trying to sell it to other countries while we get this novel food status in the U.K. to sell it there."
She said recognition in the EU could take 18-24 months, but Brexit also meant some legal aspects were uncertain.
"Weāre not sure because itās EU supply. If we can prove itās been sold in the EU before 1997 then itās fine," she said.
"Basically, once this big dossier is done it needs to be signed off by each EU member state, but if Britain is leaving the EU weāre not sure whether we still need to do it, whether that makes it easier or harder, weāre just not sure.
"So weāve started the process. We can sell everything we produce now to Canada, but we know the volumeās really going to ramp up in the next few years ā weāre going to have 500MT of this by 2020 so we want to be selling it to markets outside the EU."
This production will come from several European countries, with Poland as the biggest.
"We have about 100 hectares in Poland that are either producing or starting to produce, and we are trialing it in Spain -Ā weāve got 10 hectares in the U.K.Ā and we are trialing it out in Germany,"Ā Montague-Ebbs said.
"It's very much seen as the new superfood. I think itāll be interesting in a powder form -Ā people have their goji and acai berry powders they put on their cereal and in yogurt, and haskap would be a really good fit for that kind of thing."
She said the fresh haskap season was quite short, so part of the crop could be sold as frozen or dried product.
"I took some to Malaysia and if you have them out of the freezer like sweets, as they defrost they taste great," she added.
Conventional berry exports
CPM is also a grower of strawberries in the U.K., but a few years ago the group formed theĀ company Soloberry in Spain to work more directly with growers in the Iberian Peninsula and elsewhere.
"WeĀ were importing from Spain, so we basically made a company in Spain in order to be direct with growers there so we have this same model where we try to take growersā complete fruit for fresh, frozen and processing," she said.Ā
"WeĀ we have a group of growers from Morocco that we work with, and then Spain and Portugal. Itās all linked and I manage the supply chain and communications."
During the trade fair Soloberry attracted interest from several countries, including India and China.
"It's [India] anĀ area with less restrictions, and for them berries from Europe are so new that they just want to buy them - their quality standards arenāt outlined, they just want to test it, see how it works, and then I imagine it would become tougher over time.
"And the market is very quick, they sell out within a couple of hours of product going on shelf.
"Today weāve had a lot of interest from China but the issue is Spain cannot sell berries to China because thereās no agreement at the moment ā weāre not sure about Morocco, so we want to look at Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong ā thereās been quite a lot of interest in the Philippines as well."
Montague-Ebbs is looking into possibilities for British strawberry exports as well, but the big challenge is durability for reaching far-flung markets.
"We'veĀ looked at Singapore and Malaysia what paperwork is required and itās quite a simple process. Actually two weeks ago I shipped some product from the U.K. into Singapore and Malaysia as a trial to see how that went," she said.
"Itās very early days, the cold chain wasnāt as effective as I would have liked, but itās about starting conversations with those people."
Behind that, she also wanted to bringĀ Spanish and Moroccan berries asĀ these two countries produce varieties from the USA that have been proven to ship well to Asian markets.
"WeĀ do frozen strawberries via sea, and can do blueberries via sea with controlled temperature, but really itās airfreight and youāre just battling against temperature issues then."
Another development is a plan to import Argentine blueberries into London this season for supplying British retailers, while also re-exporting some of the fruit to India.
"It's aboutĀ consolidating that supply chain," she said.
"We will start in two weeksā time from Argentina for the U.K. market and thatās where we want to bring a couple of pallets in to send to India to see how it works," she said during the event, which took place just under two weeks ago.
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