Tatayoyo Pepper Wins 2023 FRUIT LOGISTICA Innovation Award

Originally printed in the March 2023 issue of Produce Business.

Visitors to the 2023 FRUIT LOGISTICA trade show in Berlin, Germany, voted the Tatayoyo pepper from Rijk Zwaan in the Netherlands as the Innovation of the Year.

The winner of this year’s FRUIT LOGISTICA Innovation Award (FILA) is a pepper marketed under the brand name Tatayoyo. The pepper has a distinct and strong flavor, which originates from wild peppers. With its medium-sized pod — between a bell pepper and snack pepper — it is ideal for eating in a short break.

“We are very pleased to have won the FRUIT LOGISTICA Innovation Award for the third time. From the very beginning, our goal with Tatayoyo was to breed a pepper that is not only sweet, but also tastes savory and aromatic,” says Heleen van Rijn-Wassenaar, specialist marketing and business development at Rijk Zwaan.

“Ten years ago, we started breeding the peppers until the taste, color and size met our expectations. Now we have a product that also convinces consumers,” adds grower Bianca van Haperen.

Its taste impressed the trade visitors at FRUIT LOGISTICA. Over a period of two days, they were able to vote on their choice for the most coveted international fruit industry award. The Tatayoyo pepper won the Gold award with over a quarter of the votes.

The Silver FLIA also went to the Netherlands for the IDEAL Melons concept from Sygenta Seeds. The IDEAL Melons concept — a harvest indicator — is a patent-pending innovation that signals each stage of a melon’s ripening process: when it can be harvested, shipped, stored on shelves and consumed.

Anecoop from Spain received the bronze FLIA. Trade visitors voted the company’s Brocomole ¿Y si? de Bouquet (Easy by Bouquet) in third place. This innovative product is a new type of dip for lovers of guacamole. Made from 97% fresh broccoli and avocado, it contains fiber, vitamin C and potassium.

OTHER AWARD FINALISTS

A jury of experts from all areas of the value chain identified finalists from among the innovative products, services or technical solutions introduced in the market last year. In addition to the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners, the finalists for the innovation award included:

Avisomo Growth Station, Avisomo, Norway

The Avisomo Growth Station is a fully modular, scalable, flexible and automatable vertical farming system. It enables growers worldwide to produce any crop without changing infrastructure at any scale and degree of automation.

Q Eye Smart, BIOMETiC, Italy

Q Eye Smart is the only scanner entirely based on an artificial intelligence platform, allowing more precise and automatic fruit quality sorting. Its innovative technology substantially upgrades the entire sorting process and assures top-quality produce.

LEDFan Greenhouse Toplight – 2022 design, Food Autonomy, Hungary

LEDFan offers savings on lighting and heating costs through a highly efficient design that utilizes heat loss with controlled fans. The light fixture has a wireless control system with grid-based BMS positioning and light failure detection.

Dutch premium quality vanilla, Koppert Cress, Netherlands

An exclusive range of premium Dutch vanilla of the Planifolia variety, a species of orchid that forms pods only after three years. This vanilla is comparable to a semi-dry muscat grape: it is not yet a raisin, but actually much more. In principle, it is grown in the same way as the black variety, but due to the fact that it is harvested much later, the taste is different.

Pfannenspargel, Märkische Höfe Beelitz, Germany

Green and white asparagus pieces pre-cooked in their own juice ready for cooking. This gives a more intense flavor with a longer shelf-life. Whether as a main course or side dish, the pan-fried asparagus can be expanded as desired and arranged individually in a short time.

OR Apple Juice Fill Up, Oranfresh, Italy

An automatic self-service machine that supplies freshly-made apple juice in bottles from fresh apples, with an added solution of water and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) to prevent natural oxidation.

evolutionS, Packaging Automation, UK

Using Packaging Automation’s new Syncro technologies, the evolutionS optimizes every step required to seal a shell accurately, reliably and efficiently. It is considered the most technically advanced, single-lane tray sealing machine with the highest speed currently known.

This year’s trade show drew 63,470 trade visitors and buyers from over 140 countries and 2,610 exhibitors from 92 countries The next FRUIT LOGISTICA will be held Feb. 7-9, 2024, in Berlin, Germany.