To great evils, great remedies. The ashes of La Palma volcano they have ended up damaging the island’s star product, the Canarian banana. For this reason, La Unión Corp. and the Association of Organizations of Banana Producers of the Canary Islands (Asprocan), have announced the start of the freeze testing of the product, using a new technology what do you get keep the fruit for as long as necessary, preserving all its flavor and nutrient qualities once it is defrosted.
The objective of this initiative pursues fight food waste of a product that, although it is in perfect condition for consumption, by European regulations is not suitable to be marketed because it is exclusively damaged in its external image.
All the fruit, once treated, cut and packaged, will be donated to soup kitchens, with which this initiative will allow, on the one hand, to alleviate and compensate for the inevitable losses of product that the palm banana producers are currently suffering and, on the other hand , to be able to give the product a second chance and turn it into a help for those most in need.
The damaged fruit will be collected on La Palma for subsequent transfer to the new freezing and processing plant in Almería, where it will be processed to be packaged and sent to different food banks throughout Spain.
10,000 families on La Palma
Currently, on La Palma there are more than 10,000 families that depend on the Canarian banana who live a situation of increasing loss due to the unstoppable advance of the ash in the crops. Domingo Martín Ortega, president of Asprocan, «From the association we are working on different alternatives to give viability to the maximum possible volume of fruit from the island of La Palma. This new conservation technology may be one of them, with the ability, in addition, to become an interesting complement for the longer term ».
In the words of Jesús Barranco, CEO of La Unión Corp, “This initiative is showing that today new technologies and innovation in the agri-food sector can also be a tool to improve people’s lives, especially when tragic events such as those that La Palma farmers are experiencing today occur” .
Likewise, Barranco has also stated that “The agreements between producers such as Asprocan and innovative companies such as La Unión, serve to consolidate new work models based on quality and sustainability, but always from the field of innovation as a means of improving the competitiveness of the national producer sector.”
The new technology of fruit and vegetable freezing launched by La Unión is protected by a world patent and is expected to revolutionize the frozen fruit and vegetable sector. Last May, a transformation plant of more than 10,000 square meters was inaugurated, with a current transformation capacity of more than 12 million kilos.
