“There’s a run on it,” says Frits. The independent banana expert recently drew up a declaration of intent with VDH Products BV. The cooperation was presented during the last Fruit Logistica, and it immediately got a lot of interest.
Ralf Smit (VDH), Frits Popma (Popma Fruit Expertise), Jacco Smid (VDH) en Frank Nauta (VDH)
The cooperation is simple. The producer of Proba ripening systems refers customers to Frits Popma for knowledge about ripening. “We know everything about the Proba 5, but we don’t know anything about ripening fruit,” says Jacco Smid of VDH. “In the end, we all want fruit that’s been ripened qualitatively well out of the ripening chambers.”
“For background information: the system supplied by VDH Products BV is an open system,” Jacco continues. “The customer becomes the owner of the system, so they can make all the adjustments themselves, without the need for a contractor. We want to improve the system even more by also supplying a good support.”
Yellow banana also has a shelf life
Both Jacco and Frits have seen ripening plants with disappointing results all over the world. “New ripening plants have been built that don’t have their ripening programmes set up properly. As a result, final quality of the product isn’t optimal,” Jacco explains. “VDH Products supplies a kitchen, but not the chef. Companies often build beautiful ripening plants, but they don’t have the expertise to write the best ripening program for bananas and other exotics.” Frits exemplifies: “I once asked a ripener in Egypt how he knew when the bananas were ripe. He answered that the window in the door would be misted up.”
Another well-known saying of Frits is that a yellow banana isn’t necessarily a ripe banana. “Those only looking at the colour of the banana basically just paint them, rather than actually ripening them,” he says. The job is even more interesting because there’s no theoretical training for ripeners. Ripeners are trained by doing, but this means student ripeners mimic the ‘mistakes’ of their teachers. “We’re convinced a course in Roden and later perhaps at another location could have an added value for both ripener and consumer, and we think a lot of people agree with us, considering the responses we had so far.”
Ripener continues to be necessary
A two-day course set up by Frits and VDH Products BV should remove mistakes from the world. “On the first day, VDH Products explains the Proba system and its possibilities,” Frits says. “On the second day we look at the process within the company and how the ripening system should be set up.” Because the VDH system is open, Frits can adjust settings to create an ideal ripening cycle.
Current customers also realise the benefit of Frits’ course, according to Jacco. Although automation has resulted in more options when it comes to setting up ripening programmes, the ripener will always have to open the box to look at the product. Jacco and Frits agree on this. “You could set up a programme so that you have ripe bananas after seven days, but that means you can’t go on holiday in the middle of that cycle,” Jacco says. “It will always be a living product, so each ripening process will always be different.” Frits adds: “You have to look at the product so that you can guide it when it’s not going well.”
For more information:
j.smid@vdhproducts.nl
fwpopma@ziggo.nl