The SME Productos del Campo San Gregorio, which has a production plant in Bogota, wants to gain worldwide market share with its flagship product, avocado pulp. Last week the company shipped its first container of this product, which undergoes a high-pressure technological process, to Australia.
According to Jorge Amorocho, the operations manager of the company, they have already been signed a contract with the food marketer Admiral Foods, in Melbourne, Australia, for a total shipment of 200 tons.
The San Gregorio company has also managed to close a sale to Barcelona, through ProColombia, in which they will send 27 containers with more than 500 tons of the product to Barcelona, starting this October, for three years. The difference between the sale to Europe and the sale to Australia is that the company is shipping finished guacamole to the former, with a specific recipe sent by their customers.
"We are working hand in hand with an avocado exporter called Wolf & Wolf, which gives us the fruit that we process. Currently, we are the only company in Colombia that uses High Pressure Processing (HPP) technology, a technique that involves subjecting the food to high hydrostatic pressures that destroys different pathogens, such as Salmonella and E. Coli, and improves its quality," Amorocho stated.
In addition, cold pressurized foods become more durable thanks to this technology. An avocado pressurized with HPP technology, for example, has a shelf life of approximately 75 days in refrigeration, also it doesn't oxidize quite so rapidly.
The company's goals include reaching the Japanese market and the US market, to which they have already sent some tests and are working on certifications, which according to Amorocho, are the highest in the world.
Amorocho also said that company was looking to settle in the Coffee Region, in partnership with two other partners. "The idea is to increase this region's production capacity, be closer to the crops, and become more efficient. Our success depends on the ripening of the avocado, and gauging this is a science."
Source: portafolio.co