After the first major discounter in Germany announced the future complete abandonment of airfreighted fruit and vegetables to comply with climate targets, new solutions for fruit transport are required and are being sought. Softripe with its unique and patented ripening process offers itself as a solution for this. Until now, unripe fruit that is well suited for transport, as well as non-climacteric fruit, could only be post-ripened insufficiently or not at all.
With Softripe, however, it is possible to transport very unripe fruits that are maximally formed in size by sea container and to post-ripen them in the consumer countries in an ideal way. Using an AI-based process ripening algorithm, the fruit is fully ripened in a biologically ideal way, similar to the way it is on the tree. "Mature and unripe fruit already contains all the important ingredients. Softripe adaptively gives the fruit the optimal conditions to fully and ideally ripen bio-chemically at any point in time," explains Frigotec Director Roland Wirth.
© Frigotec GmbH
Efficient fruit ripening
"Thus, after the Softripe ripening process, fruit may even have better properties, in terms of Brix, sweetness, juiciness , aroma and shelf life, than when ripened on the tree. This means that the more climate-friendly sea container product can be brought up to the quality level of airline product," Wirth continues. The Softripe technology has already been successfully introduced in Europe and is currently going into further international marketing.
"Recently, a mango transport and shelf-life trial was conducted in Brazil, where Softripe ripened mangoes (variety 'Keitt') were transported over 3,000 km by truck to subsequently enter the supermarket marketing chain. This showed the outstanding shelf life properties of Softripe ripened mangoes, which maintained their top quality three weeks after ripening," Wirth further explains.
Turbo function
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n terms of sustainability and fruit quality, Softripe technology is a power tool for ideal and automated post-ripening of exotic fruits. Wirth says, "If required, ripened produce can also be temporarily stored under CA atmosphere. In cases of peak demand or goods delivery delays, the new "turbo function" can be used to accelerate ripening in terms of time, while maintaining good ripening quality. The Softripe team will have its own booth at Fruit Attraction in Madrid this year and will be happy to answer questions about the technology and possible applications."
Visit the company at Fruit Attraction: booth 6C10.
For more information:
Roland Wirth
FRIGOTEC GmbH Kälte- und Verfahrenstechnik
Zörbiger Straße 5
D-06188 Landsberg
office: +49 34602 305-0
fax: +49 34602-30525
[email protected]
www.frigotec.de
www.softripe.com
