A technological investment that sets new benchmarks for avocado and fruit ripening, Worldwide Fruit Ltd expects:
- Better product for customers
- Improved environmental impact through 40% less energy usage
- Reduced wastage and shortened ripening cycles for greater yields
- A new level of fruit-quality and shelf life
- An attractive payback on total investment
JD Cooling Group, the UK’s leading independent supplier of temperature control systems, and Worldwide Fruit Ltd (WFL) have unveiled their new Softripe® avocado ripening facility in Spalding, Lincolnshire. A total of 132 pallet spaces using Softripe® technology are now in operation with fruit set to arrive nationally in stores in October 2020.
A giant leap forward in ripening technology, the industry award-winning Softripe® delivers a more efficient, streamlined process – including the reduction of secondary handling. It also provides greater consistency and quality of the ripened fruit, coupled with far lower wastage through the reduced need for destructive testing and significant energy reduction. Softripe® amounts to an investment that delivers huge benefits for the retailer and consumer, and which will effectively pay for itself.
Best of all, and as proven in multiple independent taste tests and shelf life trials, Softripe® avocados have an enhanced quality, flavour, and on-shelf life that are ultimately more attractive to retailers by providing a better consumer experience.
Speaking at the official ribbon cutting, John Dye, Chairman JD Cooling Group, said: “It is not very often something comes along in our industry that is game changing, but Softripe® is most certainly that, and indeed the biggest thing to happen in the ripening sector for decades. This facility is going to be a total revolution for the ripe and ready marketplace.”
Softripe® effectively ‘listens and talks’ to the fruit through its respiration gases, adapting to its needs during the ripening cycle and guiding it through an optimum organic (biological) ripening process.
“There’s a lot of noise out there at the moment about other ripening systems, but Softripe® is the only one in the world that’s able to control ethylene, CO2 and oxygen levels by communicating directly with the fruit,“ Dye said, adding: “It also allows suppliers to remove their post ripening grading process and destructive testing and is the only system that can achieve such dramatic increases in shelf life.”
Key to the technology is:
- The lack of stress caused to the avocados
- The lower temperatures used
- Finite control of oxygen, carbon dioxide and ethylene levels
- Relative humidity levels being far higher
- Total room environment being controlled according to the exact needs of the fruit at any single point within the cycle itself
Neal Collishaw, Operations Director at Worldwide Fruit Ltd, said: “Our key strategic direction is to deliver zero waste in all of our processes. Avocados are a notoriously difficult product to ripen in a traditional ripening system. Post-ripening, we still had variability amongst the raw material which can end up on the shelf, leading to consumer dissatisfaction. Softripe® now ensures we have a more consistent, superior product and has enabled us to remove the secondary grading from our processes. Along with the reduced ripening cycles, there are clear benefits to producers, distributors, retailers, and consumers.”
Distributed exclusively in the UK by JD Cooling, Softripe® technology has revolutionised the sector delivering benefit to business whilst aligning with calls for greater consideration on wastage, energy usage, and the environment.
To enquire about Softripe®, please contact JD Cooling Group on 01553 767446, or visit www.jdcooling.com/cooling/ripening-rooms/softripe for more information.
About JD Cooling Group
With regional offices in King’s Lynn, Manchester, Scotland, Bristol and Kent, JD Cooling Group is the UK’s leading independent supplier of bespoke cooling to a broad range of sectors – everything from field-to-fork and pharmaceutical cleanrooms to air-conditioning for small independent companies, local authorities and large corporations. Offering the complete cooling package including natural and industrial refrigeration, automation controls, power, heat recovery and heating, ventilation & air conditioning, they are on-hand 24/7, 365 days a year.
