South African retailer Pick n Pay has started selling apples of all varieties that sustained surface damage during hail storms over the Ceres area in November and again over the Langkloof in February – apples that otherwise might have had to be discarded.
“We saw an opportunity to partner with Pick n Pay on the Hail to the Heroes campaign and get this perfectly good fruit to market while minimising the risk of job and volume losses,” says Johan du Toit, business manager for the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region at Good Hope Fruit.
With the Hail to the Heroes campaign, a challenge has been turned into an opportunity, not only to reduce food waste, protect jobs and ensure consistent supply, but also to educate consumers that an apple’s appearance – in this case, scar tissue where the superficial wounds from hail have healed – isn’t always an indication of its internal quality.
South African consumers expect the perfect fruit to which they are accustomed, which is why the bags of apples will include text that ‘hail the heroes’ – the workers on farm who tend to crops for many months. Available in store from August 2023, each sticker attached to selected bags of apples in Pick n Pay stores has a code that consumers can use to access more information.
First campaign of its kind in South Africa
With climate change expected to increase the severity and frequency of hail in the Western Cape, observes Dutoit head of technical Linde du Toit, the Hail to Heroes campaign encourages consumers to look beyond the external appearance and give these hail-damaged apples a chance.
Right: young apples at the time of last November's hail
While unique to South Africa, remarks Karien Bassett, Dutoit’s business manager, the campaign mimics similar sentiment taking place globally.
“Without Dutoit Agri, Good Hope Fruit, and Pick n Pay, this campaign would not be possible and most of the produce would have had to be discarded,” she says. “This is an innovative partnership within the agricultural and retail sectors. We have to help each other as much as possible for the greater good of the producers, labour force and consumers.”
“The volume affected by hail was so high that there are already limited numbers of Top Red available,” remarks Rebecca Fifield, Pick n Pay food technologist. “That and Golden Delicious volumes, both big sellers for us, are tightest at the moment.”
She expects CA rooms to empty much faster than they would have in previous years.
Every tree thinned out by hand
Fortunately, notes Jaco Jordaan, technical manager at Good Hope Fruit, apples have the ability to repair superficial indentation and therefore hail generally only causes scar tissue, a cosmetic blemish, with no interior quality deterioration.
Right: Golden Delicious apple with hail damage healed over
“The fruit quality and taste of these apples remain perfectly intact, with the exact same nutritional value and delicious taste as those not damaged.”
In fact, Linde adds, even more postharvest care is taken with hail-damaged fruit.
“With early damage such as what was experienced over the last year, we are still able to thin out each and every tree by hand to remove the worst affected fruit and give the remaining fruit the best chance,” Linde says. “Hail damaged fruit in no way implies less dedication to the handling and marketing of the fruit. In fact, perhaps even more care is taken to ensure the longevity of fruit.”
Unprecedented disruption to apple supply
“To this extent it’s unprecedented,” Rebecca observes. “Every couple of years we come fairly close to running out before the new season but we always manage to source different stock from our growers, but it’s going to be a different story this year.”
Pick n Pay's apple shelves, well-stocked despite hail events
Given the increasing electricity, cooling and packing costs, the fruit industry cannot afford further losses the partner growers say.
Sustaining supply and maintaining a consistent price for apples help to mitigate the already overwhelming challenges faced by the farming community.
“Where we are in the economy, and at this point in time, we have to help each other as much as possible,” Rebecca says. “Pick n Pay wants to help farmers and their workers, and we always want to avoid food waste.”
For more information:
Rebecca Fifield
Pick n Pay
Email: [email protected]
https://hailheroes.co.za