Fruit freshness innovator Food Freshly is set to bring new concepts for ready-sliced bananas to this year’s Fruit Logistica exhibition, as part of the company’s development of ready-to-eat snacks. 

With the fresh-cut fruit segment continuing to grow globally, the idea of adding bananas to the mix has been an attractive one for retailers but difficult to achieve.

To meet this demand, Food Freshly last year launched O Plus Ultra-7, a nature-based freshness retainer for bananas that is making fresh-sliced banana snacks a reality.

By dipping the banana slices into O Plus Ultra-7 solution the characteristics are retained without influencing the taste. The product does not contain sulphites, allergens or genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

"In the past, chemicals like L-Cysteine have been outlined in scientific literature as preventing browning in fresh-cut bananas," Food Freshly director of technical sales Benjamin Singh said.

"However, substances containing sulphite are not permitted for use in the EU and are not approved by the US FDA [Food and Drug Administration] for fresh-cut fruits. Therefore we are especially proud to have found a solution that fully complies with all major food legislations.”

Within the first six months of its introduction, O Plus Ultra-7 had already been sampled across the globe and is now ready to be brought to supermarket shelves. 

At this week's Fruit Logistica 2017, Food Freshly will showcase a variety of fruit snacks that contain fresh-cut bananas to give customers an idea of how fresh-cut bananas can be easily added to existing programmes.

The fruit snacks use a standard air-tight plastic container that is easily applied and prevents oxygen from spoiling the fruits.

www.freshfruitportal.com