Ecuador's Tankay scoops GLOBAL G.A.P award

Tankay, the social enterprise company from Ecuador, scooped the GLOBALG.A.P. award this year for the innovative use of of Physalis. More popularly known as 'Golden Berry', Physalis is a rare fruit that is rich in vitamin C and calcium.

The GLOBALG.A.P. Summit took place in Abu Dhabi for the first time recently, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs of the UAE. The event gathered the world's leading decision makers, food safety experts and professionals from all sectors of the food service industry as they discussed the latest developments in Good Agriculture and Aquaculture Practices.

Tankay is the first company in the world that has been duly certified to produce and process Physalis on a large scale, with exports of the fruit reaching as far as France, Holland, Spain, Germany and Canada. With plans of bringing its products into the region and expanding its reach, Tankay is in the process of exploring opportunities to use Dubai as the trading and re-export hub for the rest of the GCC markets.

Commenting on winning the award, Hussam Hassan, Head of the Ecuadorian Commercial Office in Dubai said: "We congratulate Tankay on winning the prestigious GLOBALG.A.P. award. As the Trade and Investment promotion organisation of Ecuador, our aim is to help the Ecuadorian companies to meet its goals of exploring and exporting their high quality products to the world and specially to new emerging markets. Another Ecuadorian product entry into the UAE market will also increase the awareness of our high quality products and strengthen the trade between the UAE and Ecuador."

The CEO of Tankay, Dennis Brito Madrid said: "Due to the strong competition in the global food market, we must encourage even more people to produce and develop non-traditional products that offer quality and added value. Winning the GLOBALG.A.P. award gives us a greater challenge to continue our superior quality of golden berry production known as Physalis. Our key aim is to introduce our product to the UAE market where we see a huge potential. With the help of the Trade and Investment promotion organisation of Ecuador, we are confident that we will be able to reach out to UAE citizens and residents in the near future, as well as to the rest of the GCC."

Tankay also strongly encourages the empowerment of women who work in their farms and production factories. This is in addition to the promotion of wellbeing as well as environmental responsibility and sustainability in their fruit production.

For more information:
Hussam Hassan;
Proecuador
Tel: +971 55 7279900
Email: haboa@proecuador.gob.ec

Publication date: Wed 5 Nov 2014