The Chilean Fresh Fruit Association worked with The Long Beach Beer Lab Brewery in Long Beach, CA, to produce a unique Chilean plum beer. A total of 4,000 16-ounce bottles are currently being distributed throughout California.
“The key focus of the CFFA is on retail promotions, but this was a really fun and creative way to utilize Chilean plums,” said Steve Hattendorf, western region merchandiser for the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association. “An importer donated the plums and the Beer Lab created a delicious beer out of them. We look forward to potentially working with the Beer Lab on other fruit-forward beers.”
Headed by BrewMaster and Chief Scientist, Dr. Levi Fried, the Beer Lab is a small manufacturing brewery dedicated to fermentation-forward beverages, including sours, one of the hottest beer categories. According to Nielsen, for the 52 week through May 20, 2017, dollar sales of sour beer styles soared 49 percent in off-premise outlets. According to Dr. Fried, fresh fruits like Chilean plums are the perfect addition to sours.
“Chilean plums were the perfect addition to our crisp farmhouse ale, Milk the Mustache. Blended with our sourdough ale and aged for three months with the delicious hand processed Chilean plums, the end result was a crisp, complex and satisfying beer,” Dr. Fried stated. The Beer Lab promoted the Chilean Plum beer by offering t-shirts, bottles and glassware gift packages.
“We look forward to teaming up with Fruits from Chile in the future on more ‘exbeeriments,’ adding other great tasting Chilean fruit to our beer,” Dr. Fried added.
When it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Chilean summer fruits are in peak supply. Grapes, peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, and blueberries are currently available at retailers throughout North America.
Early season imported grapes from South America have been lower, although with the arrival of March volume is improving.
To date, Chilean grapes imported through early March were down 32 percent compared to last year, reports the USDA, with imported Peruvian grapes being down 46 percent compared to the same time a year ago.
A Pro*Act market report dated March 6th notes imported grape supplies from Chile and Peru were increasing and quality was good in early March. A consistent volume of imported grapes is expected through early April, when the transition of Mexican grapes starts crossing the U.S. border in mid-April.
On March 6th the USDA’s Market News Service reported prices for extra large Chilean red seedless grapes at $20 to $24 per carton, up from $16 to $20 per carton the same day a year ago.
The early March market was under downward pressure with increasing volume and prices may decline with ample volume in the near term, according to the report.
A range of retail prices for red seedless grapes in selected U.S. cities, ranged from a low ad price of $1.28 per pound in Detroit to a high of $3.99 per pound in Seattle and New York.
Retail promotions of red seedless grapes were reported by the USDA in 7,637 U.S. stores for the week of March 1st with an average price of $2.48 per pound. That compares 8,186 stores promoting red seedless grapes a year ago at an average price of $3.07 per pound.
Organic fresh produce is booming despite total grocery store dollar growth may have climbed only two percent in the last year.
The Organic Produce Network (OPN) and Nielsen, have released new data showing organic produce sales have set new records, totaling $5.6 billion in 2018, far exceeding the status quo. And the year ended on a particularly high note as sales soared 13 percent the final week of the year.
The OPN notes it is particularly interesting is an impressive two-thirds of all produce commodity groups increased organic sales year-over-year which indicates this is not an isolated incident. At the same time, organic growth occurred in these three categories despite a decline in conventional sales.
According to a press release, fresh produce represented 26 percent of total store organic sales, and a growth rate of 8.6 percent was on par with total store organic, suggesting a continued movement toward mainstream demand across product consumption.
In terms of absolute dollars, blueberries saw the greatest increase followed by prepackaged salads. Many popular organic categories exceeded $20 million in dollar growth—among them organic bananas, apples, and grapes.
“Although organic accounted for 10.1 percent of total produce sales, it’s driving a disproportionate amount of growth within the produce department,” said Matt Lally, Associate Director at Nielsen. “In total, 43 percent of total produce growth occurred from organic items which equates to an additional $450 million sold.”
OPN noted in its press release, organic isn’t a given recipe for success. Products like strawberries and tomatoes experienced far greater growth in the conventional offering, but a closer look reveals how important pricing is for these categories. Prices varied widely—ranging from $1.97 to $3.38 per pound between conventional and organic tomatoes and $2.26 to $4.26 for conventional and organic strawberries.
“When you compare this difference with commodities that experience a high organic growth rate such as grapes, the difference is striking,” noted Lally “Conventional grapes rang in at $2.18 per conventional pound compared to $2.94 per organic pound. Clearly there’s a strong connection between the growth of organic and the price premium with its conventional counterpart.”
In addition to room for growth in the strawberry and tomato category, onions, bell peppers, watermelon, and mandarins are all disproportionately under-represented in organic sales compared to the total produce average. And OPN noted that making organics widely available during key periods like summer holidays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas is a great way to reach more shoppers.
A new facility has been added by Del Rey Avocado Co. of Fallbrook, CA, that adds an additional 43,000 square feet of cold storage and ripening rooms to the company’s existing footprint in San Diego County. The new facility is located in Vista, CA.
The new Southern California facility comes following the company’s January 2017 expansion, when the company purchased a new facility in Vineland, N.J., according to a news release.
The new facility, according to the release, will serve customers in the Western U.S., in addition to imports from Mexico.
“Our growth and expansion would not be possible without the support of our customers and the tremendous relationships we enjoy with them,” Bob Lucy, president of Del Rey.
“In addition to our customers, our employees are the key to our growth and success. Not a day goes by that we don’t counting our blessing.”
Del Rey Avocado employs 85 full-time staff in its Southern California facilities.
“Opening a new facility has long been our goal and desire to streamline our operations, improve efficiencies and offer us an opportunity to be innovative in meeting the need of our customers,” Bob Siemer, chief agronomist/partner for the company, said in the release.
“The new Vista facility will also provide our growers many benefits as it will allow us to receive fruit faster and get products to market faster.”
Bee Sweet Citrus Inc. of Fowler, CA is now shipping its Star Ruby grapefruit from the Central San Joaquin Valley and will continue to do so for the next few months. Georgia carrot loadings from Grimmway Farms also has started.
“Every year, Star Ruby grapefruit continue to grow in popularity and take the produce industry by storm,” said Bee Sweet Citrus Sales Representative Joe Berberian. “This variety is less acidic than other grapefruit varieties and has many health benefits.”
Low in calories and a nutritional powerhouse, Star Ruby grapefruit is the reddest of all grapefruit varieties. An excellent source of vitamin C and fiber, one serving can provide you with over half the recommended daily intake of vitamin C and can also help promote a healthy digestive system.
A grower, packer and shipper of California citrus, Bee Sweet Citrus was founded in 1987. It is a family owned and operated company, and ships over 15 different varieties of citrus.
Georgia Carrot Shipments
Grimmway Farms, headquartered in Bakersfield, CA, who is the world’s largest producer of carrots, has activated its Sparks, GA carrot packing facility and will be providing regional shipments through mid-May.
The company is offering conventional cello and jumbo carrots grown in the Southeast and packed under the Grimmway Farms, Bunny Luv and Premier labels.
“Sourcing carrots from our Sparks, GA facility is a great option for customers and distribution centers in the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest,” says Mike Anspach, Vice President of Sales at Grimmway Farms.
Grimmway is loading carrots from the Southeast facility Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m . (EST) by appointment only. To book a loading appointment, please call 1-866-328-6867.
About Grimmway Farms
Family-owned and headquartered in Bakersfield, California, Grimmway Farms traces its roots to a produce stand opened by the Grimm brothers in the early 1960s. Grimmway is a global produce leader and the world’s largest producer of carrots. Grimmway supplies more than 65 organic, USA-grown crops and brands include Cal-Organic Farms and Bunny-Luv.
A small increase in Mexican citrus shipments to the U.S. is expected this year, a new report predicts. Nearly all of Mexico’s fresh oranges are exported to the U.S., originating from Sonora.
According to the report, growers in the northern states of Mexico have said that fresh fruit exports to the U.S. for processing purposes have increased due to the decrease in Florida orange production.
The report forecasts that Mexican fresh orange exports will increase slightly to 78,000 metric tons in marketing year 2018-19.
Nearly all fresh orange exports go to the U.S., and most oranges exported to the U.S. are navel oranges grown in Sonora, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the report said Mexican Persian and key lime exports for 2018-19 are expected to be strong and are pegged at 725,000 metric tons.
The spring Persian lime harvest begins in early April, the report said. Depending on prices, the Persian limes are typically shipped to European markets before being shipped to the U.S.
Lime exporters continue to expand into the European and Japanese markets, but still supply about 40 percent of the U.S. and Canadian markets.
International prices for Persian limes began at U.S. $16 to $18 per 40-pound box in October and November; prices during April and May 2018 were as high as $63 per box, the report said.
Mexican grapefruit exports are projected at 20,000 metric tons, with strong European prices pulling volume there over the U.S. market.
Mexican produce crossing at Nogales, AZ, grossing about $3400 to Chicago.
(Sacramento) – Once again, tests showed that the vast majority of fresh produce collected by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) met national pesticide residue standards. During its 2017 survey, DPR found 96 percent of all samples had no detectable pesticide residues or were below levels allowed by the U.S. EPA.
“DPR carries out extensive sampling of pesticides on fresh produce, and once again it shows that California consumers can be confident about eating fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Brian Leahy, Director of DPR. “California growers and farmers are adept at following our comprehensive rules to ensure produce is grown to the highest pesticide standards.”
The 2017 report is based on year-round collection of 3695 samples of produce, from 28 different countries, including those labeled as “organic.” DPR scientists sampled produce from various grocery stores, farmers’ markets, food distribution centers, and other outlets throughout California. The produce is tested for more than 400 types of pesticides using state of the art equipment operated by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) sets levels for the maximum amounts of pesticide residue that can be present on fruits and vegetables, called a “tolerance.” It is a violation if any residue exceeds the tolerance for the specific fruit or vegetable, or if a pesticide is detected for which no tolerance has been established.
California Specific Results
More than a third of the country’s fruits and vegetables are grown in California according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). In 2017 DPR found:
About 25 per cent of all produce samples tested were labeled as Californian-grown,
About 95 per cent of these samples had no residues on them or were within the legal levels,
About 5 per cent of California samples had illegal residues, including kale and snow peas. These are pesticide residues in excess of the established tolerance or had illegal traces of pesticides that were not approved for that commodity. However, none of those residues were at a level that would pose a health risk to consumers.
Other highlights from the 2017 report include:
41 percent of all produce samples had no detectable residues at all,
55 percent had residues detected within the legal level.
4 percent of all the samples had pesticide residues in excess of the established tolerance or had illegal traces of pesticides that were not approved for that commodity.
A trend of fewer apple shipments this season continues. There were 78.9 million (42-pound) bushels of apples remaining in storage for the fresh market as of February 1st. This is 12 percent lower than at the same time last year, and 7 percent lower than the 5-year average.
The apple industry had 78.9 million (42-pound) bushels of fresh-market apples in storage as of Feb. 1, 12% less than the same time in 2018, and 7% off the five-year average.
Apples headed to the processing market are seeing similar drops, with 14 percent less fruit on February 1st than at the same time in 2018, with a drop of 13 percent compared to the 5-year average, according to the U.S. Apple Association’s monthly Market News report.
The top fresh-market varieties on February 1st (and unchanged from five-year average), according to the apple association, were:
Red delicious — 21.65 million bushels (-19 percent);
Gala — 15.48 million bushels (4 percent);
Fuji — 10.15 million bushels (12 percent);
Granny smith — 8.52 million bushels (-20 percent);
Honeycrisp — 6.54 million bushels (123 percent);
Cripps pink/Pink Lady — 4.11 million bushels (18 percent); and
Golden delicious — 3.61 million bushels (-47 percent)
Regional fresh apple holdings for February 1st were (in bushels):
Northeast — 5.67 million;
Southeast — 354,000;
Midwest — 2.96 million;
Southwest — 168,500; and
Northwest — 78.87 million.
Washington apples – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.
The average Canadian family can expect to spend $411 more on food in 2019, bringing their total yearly grocery bill to $12,157 thanks to more expensive fruit and vegetables, according to Canada’s Food Price Report.
This expected increase in food spending of 1.5 to 3.5 per cent is mostly due to an anticipated price hike of as much as six per cent for produce.
“With fruit and vegetables being a major part of a healthy diet, the increase in cost may hinder Canadians’ ability to maintain the twofold effort of putting food on their plates and ensuring that food is healthy,” said University of Guelph Prof. Simon Somogyi, one of the lead authors of the report and Arrell Chair in the Business of Food in the College of Business and Economics.
The ninth annual report provides a price forecast for 8 food categories and is a joint project between researchers at the University of Guelph and Dalhousie University. The projected national price jump is slightly higher than last year’s one- to three-per-cent increase.
2019 Food Price Forecasts
Food Categories
Anticipated Increase
Bakery
1% – 3%
Dairy
0% – 2%
Food
0% – 2%
Fruits
1% – 3%
Meat
(-3%) – (-1%)
Restaurants
2% – 4%
Seafood
(-2%) – 0%
Vegetables
4% – 6%
Total Food Categories Forecast
1.5% – 3.5%
Provincially, food price increases are expected to exceed the national average in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan and lag the national average in the Atlantic provinces. Food prices are expected to increase by the average amount in Manitoba and Quebec.
Somogyi said poor growing conditions due to weather and increasing demand are potentially driving next year’s rising costs of fruit and vegetables.
“There is a strong likelihood El Nino will return, which means North America will suffer from dryer conditions,” he said. “Also, we are seeing an increase in plant-based protein consumption, and the foods that go into this type of protein come from the vegetable category. Increased consumption means increased demand which flows into increased prices on the grocery store shelf.”
This surge in consumption of plant-based proteins is also contributing to an expected drop of as much as 3 per cent in the price of meat and seafood.
“These prices are in decline as Canadian consumers turn to plant-based proteins in large numbers,” said Prof. Sylvain Charlebois in the faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University and a lead author of the report. “For example, we consume 94 million fewer kilograms of beef annually today than in 2010, and as demand drops, so does price.”
This the first time in a decade that prices in meat and seafood have dipped.
“Since the global financial crisis 10 years ago, we have seen a steady increase in the price of these two items,” said Somogyi. “Given they play a significant role in our diets, a decrease will have a positive impact on the average Canadian’s grocery bill.”
When it comes to dining out, families can expect their restaurant bills to be $143 more than last year. This is mainly the result of a minimum wage increase, which has raised costs for Canadian restaurants.
“With 35 percent of Canadians’ food budgets spent on buying food outside of the home, this will have an impact on the wallets of Canadians,” said Somogyi.
Along with more consumption of plant-based proteins, other food trends expected to influence food prices this year include edible cannabis products and the new Canada Food Guide.
PHILADELPHIA – As mandarin production in California starts to slow for the season, shipments of premium-quality Israeli fruit have just begun to arrive on the East Coast for the U.S. market.
The primary Israeli mandarin export is the Orri, a hybrid developed specifically to maintain flavor and integrity through the international supply chain. The first containers of the season arrived to specialty produce importer and wholesaler John Vena Inc. (JVI) in Philadelphia at the end of January.
“We’re very pleased with the quality of our first containers. The fruit is already eating better than any other citrus I have had in recent memory, and I have been handling Orri in particular for some years – more or less since the variety’s notoriety began to spill over from Europe,” reports JVI president John Vena. “We’ve already been getting brix readings as high as 14. Luckily for anyone who loves citrus, shipments are anticipated to continue through May.”
This year was particularly unusual for members of JVI’s grower partner, Granot, a cooperative of 45 agricultural kibbutzim that has roots going back to the early 1940s. For reasons not yet understood, fruit across the country matured much more rapidly than anticipated, leading to a good supply of large fruit early in the season unlike any ever seen. The cooperative was packing fruit as early as mid-December, several weeks prior than projections estimated, and production saw record volumes of larger sizing with limited medium and small fruit in direct contradiction to the bell curve that typically characterizes the harvest.
Despite the atypical start, growers expect a particularly strong Orri crop for 2019 with consistent volumes and excellent quality. Smaller fruit has already begun to arrive and ratios are expected to normalize in the coming weeks, although large fruit packed in a bulk 10-kilogram value case, which is often favored in the ethnic retail segment, is anticipated to remain abundant for the season.
About John Vena Inc.
Established in 1919, John Vena Inc. (JVI) is a fourth-generation, family-owned and -operated specialty produce importer, wholesaler, and distributor providing a full suite of services including custom packing, program ripening, and logistics. JVI handles a wide range of specialty items for foodservice, retail, and processing, including fresh herbs, greenhouse vegetables, gourmet foods, tropical fruits, ethnic produce, wild edibles, microgreens, edible flowers, and baby vegetables.
