Macfrut Provides Incentives for Raising Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

The curtain has fallen on the 23rd edition of Macfrut. The world’s leading post-harvest machinery exhibition closed on a positive note: from Thursday May 4th to Saturday May 6th 2006, some 25,000 visitors (including 6500 overseas visitors from 70 countries) attended the three-day fair, filling the corridors of the 30,000 m² exhibition area, which hosted over 700 company stands.

For years, Macfrut has taken on the role of publicizing scientific findings, research and new products and equipment. That role was carried over into this year, with the organisation of around thirty conferences, meetings, presentations and workshops. Topics included traceability, surpluses, wood recycling, risk management solutions for international investments, post harvest, nuts, peaches and broccoli, in addition to logistics and markets in general.

One of the novelties of the 2006 exhibition is Easypunnet by Sorma, a new versatile punnet that provides more space for branding and communication, while still allowing the product inside to breathe and be seen. Meanwhile, Sacmi is unveiling Nircase, a handy new tool for ensuring fruit quality.

As far as products we can mention Rosaria. In the fresh produce arena, branding is important but not so widespread as in other industries: there are Chiquita bananas, Melinda apples, so why not give oranges a name too? This simple logic led the company Salvatore Pannitteri & Co. to name the Red Tarocco of Etna volcano Rosaria, owing to its integrated management production. Meanwhile, seed producer Esasem of Verona brought its new Attilio to Macfrut, a normal-sized, round costate salad tomato, with excellent consistency and shelf life, an intense red colour and a taste that is its strong point. Another tomato under the spotlight has been the mini San Marzano: it is the Dunne tomato that Syngenta is showcasing, following a campaign which began in Sicily. It heralds a return to the mini-pear, sweet with a soft consistency which denotes full ripeness, and has already been the subject of much interest in Great Britain and the Netherlands. Chinese participants brought fried apple snack packs (Apple Chips) to the fair.

Brazilian Fruit Institute IBRAF also revealed  its interest to the Italian market at Macfrut: the Brazilian institute attended the fair with a group of exporters and highlighted the in-store promotion displays, which are to be seen this May in Italian Carrefour hypermarkets.
At Macfrut there was much talk about market crises, as well as strategies for dealing with them. These strategies included the promotion of a manifesto to harmonize phytosanitary and certification regulations. It was signed by the three main European agricultural organizations, Areflh (27 European horticultural regions), Freshfel (private companies) and Cogeca (cooperatives).
 
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