For Francisco Lorenzo Speranzini, president of Europlátano, "this accreditation confirms that the efforts of the producers and staff of Europlátano to improve the quality of the product have been worth it, and proof of this are the recognitions obtained by Gabaceras and Canary Gold."
The manager of this PO, Antonio Javier Luis Brito, also believes this to be an important certification which should help give a boost to their expansion project outside Spain, since they are already shipping to several European countries."Many countries in central and northern Europe show a special preference for European products, and being the only accredited European banana is a major advantage," he affirms.
According to Antonio Javier, almost every test that has been carried out in Europe with Canary bananas has failed, because in general, "so far, those Canary producers who have tried have only given Europe a try at a time when their natural market, which is Spain, was saturated, without having a definite project for export; we have thus not worked on the adaptation of our bananas to the tastes of the markets to be targeted. You cannot sell the same product as in Spain, because we have very different preferences. The Canary Gold brand, intended for export, improves the appearance of the banana while protecting the traditional varieties of our area and the distinctive flavour that characterises them."
Europlátano has supply programs with the supermarket chain Coop, in Switzerland. At the moment, they are shipping about two trucks per week and expect to increase the volumes ahead of the coming winter campaign. They already have contacts with importers from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, where they expect to carry out the first tests after this summer.
"At the same time, in the domestic market, and thanks to this PGI, we will focus much more on the origin, protecting it against the competition of bananas from other origins," adds Antonio Javier. "It is worth remembering that Europlátano has received the Taste of the year award 2017 for its brand Gabaceras, granted by the consumer, among others."
Europlátano is a company formed by 700 producers with five processing plants distributed in three islands of the Canary archipelago: two in La Palma, two in Tenerife and another in the island of El Hierro, and with a marketing volume totalling 60,000 tonnes of bananas a year. At the moment, 90% of the production is intended for the Iberian Peninsula, while 8% remains in the Canaries and 2% is exported.
The certification process, carried out by Sohiscert, a company with extensive experience in the auditing and certification of agro-food products, has lasted for several weeks, during which they have verified and checked compliance with the necessary requirements, both on farms and in processing and ripening facilities. Furthermore, there have been tastings on the product itself in order to determine the organoleptic (taste, smell, visual appearance), chemical (sugars and starch) and physical (shape and dimensions) characteristics.
Para más información:
Silvia Tormo
T: +34 616797219
comunicacion@europlatano.net
www.europlatano.es