MADRID — Innovation, fruit breeding and more innovation were on display at the 2024 Fruit Attraction, Oct. 8-10, where the global produce industry convened at the sprawling IFEMA Madrid convention space for an event organizers say was “record-breaking.”
Global fruit breeding company Bloom Fresh sampled its grapes of the future that are not yet commercially available, including a sweet black grape with white flesh and another with red flesh and stems.
“[The industry] hasn’t developed many great black grapes,” said Marie-Anne de Béjarry, Bloom Fresh global marketing and communications manager, who says the company’s breeding program is realizing the future of the black grape “to see how far innovation can go.”
The new variety of black grapes with red flesh and stems has higher antioxidants like blueberries, she said.
“We don’t want it to be just another black grape. We want it to be an incredible grape,” she said.
De Béjarry said it will be between five and six years before the black grape varieties hit store shelves in the U.S.
Valencia, Spain-based SanLucar Fruit featured a retail showroom to spotlight its new products, technology, merchandising concepts and more.
“We’re investing in technology and artificial intelligence for retail as we look at how we can add more value to fruits and vegetables in new markets,” said Sonia Gabarda, corporate communications manager.
Among the new tech was a machine that peels, cores and cuts whole pineapples directly into a dual-cup container in 20 seconds. The machine allows retailers to offer shoppers the convenience of fresh-cut pineapple with no labor required.
“We are in a lot of markets,” said SanLucar Fruit CEO Armin Rehberg, adding that SanLucar is currently available in Sweden, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Middle East, Asia, Canada and the U.S., where the brand is sold through Walmart and H-E-B stores.
“SanLucar is really a major brand,” said Rehber.g “We stand for taste the sun. We stand for big quality and we have the new Blue Wonders — we have the best blueberries in the world.”
At the 2023 Fruit Logistica in Berlin, VentureFruit, a T&G Global company, debuted Tutti, what it says is the world’s first hot climate-tolerant apple variety and the first apple brand to be commercially released from the Hot Climate Partnership.
New hot climate apple varieties were once again the name of the game for the company at the 2024 Fruit Attraction in Madrid, where Morgan Rogers, general manager of VentureFruit Global, discussed the company’s mission to address the global decline in apple consumption through innovation.
“We appreciate fruit breeding’s role in continuing to produce what consumers want,” said Rogers, who noted VentureFruit has five different breeding groups across the globe.
The most recent innovation to come from its fruit breeding with the consumer in mind is Stellar, what Rogers describes as “a better gala.” Stellar is a new apple variety that has similarities to the gala that will resonate with consumers, he added.
“It eats really well, and it stores better than galas,” said Rogers. Stellar also matures one to two weeks earlier than gala apples.
Stellar is the second apple to come from the Hot Climate Partnership and the world’s first early season apple variety specifically bred for hot and warming climates, the company says.
Another advantage of the Stellar variety is that anyone can grow it, Rogers said. Stellar trees are being released through an open tree model that offers growers flexibility, as they can purchase Stellar apple trees and brand the fruit under a name of their choosing.
