The Fresh Cut (or Minimally Processed vegetables or Ready To Use) sector - that of the sale of ready fresh fruit and vegetables is one of the few segments enjoying rapid growth. The raw vegetables sector (loose and boxed vegetables) has been in difficulty for some years.
Families spend less and less time preparing food.
Buying Fresh Cut range products means buying time in a way of life where any activity deemed superfluous is reduced to a minimum so as to do more.
Buying Fresh Cut range products also means trying unknown varieties (mache , rocket, spinach).
The MPV range exists everywhere: from Shanghai to New Delhi and from New
York to Moscow.
Ready to use salads are
unsafe:
false. They're washed and checked far more than fruit and vegetables bought
from shops with displays near the roadside or sitting in the sun, or from
open chiller cabinets.
1 kg of average ready salad is washed with 10 litres of water and
rinsed 2-3 times with pure water.
The use of antibacterial substances improves food safety.
Ready pack salads are
expensive:
half true.
The value of a ready salad depends on the value you place on your time
which by saving on food preparation you can dedicate to your family.
How long does it take to prepare (wash and dry, and clean the sink) a
salad with onions and peppers.
Let's say 12 minutes for 500 grams.
How much is your free time worth?
If you consider €10 an hour, 12 minutes are the equivalent of €2 for
500 grams.
1 Euro for a portion of 250 grams.
Then one has to add the cost of the ingredients considering that about 30%
will be wasted.
A bowl of mixed salad can cost €2 - 2.5 for a 250 gram pack.
Photo taken in Shangai
Photo taken in Chicago
HOW
A FRESH CUT SALAD
IS MADE
The main operations are:
- Peeling and Inspection
- Cutting (only for fully grown salads, whereas the scythed leaves are already supplied in small sizes and therefore do not require cutting in the factory)
- Washing and Sanitisation of the Product (with 2 or 3 blowing washers)
- Drying (in centrifugal machines or tunnels)
- Inspection
- Packaging in bags or bowls
All these phases are important and the use of quality machinery contributes to the healthiness of the final product.
Current shelf-life is 6-7 days. In the United States some companies offer
an even longer period. This depends mainly on the distance between the
area where the salads are grown (California and Arizona) and where they
are consumed (everywhere).
The question of whether offering products with a longer shelf life would give a competitive advantage is often raised. For now the market seems to prefer 6-7 days as the right compromise between product freshness and availability of use. In general most families do their shopping in supermarkets or local shops on average twice a week, so that a 6-7 day shelf life seems convenient for consumers.
We also need to consider the fact that a product which remains in the chiller cabinet for too long begins to deteriorate due to exposure and handling by customers, who increasingly tend to check the sell-by date and this interaction provokes deterioration.
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