FRUIT PROCUREMENT
When developing new products the focus is on selecting the optimum fruit for each application, using our global sourcing experience developed over 39 years of fruit purchasing and processing. This experience is overlaid with strong quality systems to ensure that fruit is supplied in compliance with robust quality specifications.
Our fruit buying program has a heavy New Zealand emphasis and we process over 500 tonnes of fresh New Zealand fruits each harvest season, delivered daily from growers in Canterbury, Otago, Blenheim, Nelson and Poverty Bay. Another 500 tonnes plus of New Zealand fruit is supplied frozen by our growers.
There are also many speciality fruits (eg cranberries, morello cherries, etc) and tropical fruits (eg guava, mango, pineapple, etc) that are not grown commercially in New Zealand, and there are other crops such as raspberries that are only available in very limited quantities ex New Zealand because no suitable variety has yet been bred to suit mechanical harvesting in New Zealand’s low winter chill conditions. All these fruits must be imported from a wide range of international origins including North and South America, Europe, Asia and South Africa. |
