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The Sundays River Citrus Company has extended its packing capacity quite substantially. In 2016 it opened the Ingqweba packing facility in Kirkwood and added a line capable of packing up to 1.5m cartons annually. The second line for that facility will be implemented for the 2018 season with a similar capacity.
"Whilst the immediate targets are to be able to handle a future crop of 12m or more cartons, the added lines also render substantial additional flexibility," explains Hannes de Waal, Managing Director at the company.
SRCC has been servicing the chemical free or edible skin category for some time now. Expanding the lemon and orange product range in this way is really beneficial to SRCC, and its retail and wholesale customers, and good growth is forecast. The additional capacity allows for even greater capacity to be allocated to this specialised lines.
"Edible skin broadly means fruit grown conventionally - in our case using the Integrated Pest Management Program with applicable sprays and fertilizers. We are environmentally conscious and no packhouse chemicals are applied. Sanitizing products that don’t leave residues and GRAS generally regarded as safe will be used in the packhouse. Also wax with only Carnauba (no Shellec) – for moisture loss control, but there will be no post-harvest fungicide residues on the fruit. Retailers test the fruit in accordance with protocols. Retailers also test for pre-harvest residues so that also must be managed in accordance with release periods."
This is not the same as organic fruit, which is grown strictly in accordance with organic standards, which means that only organic inputs can be used.
For more information on SRCC’s edible skin offering please contact the Marketing Manager responsible for Europe: Kevin Terblanche. kterblanche@srcc.co.za
Hannes de Waal
Sundays River Citrus Company (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 42 233 0320
www.srcc.co.za