Portuguese retailer Continente has launched a new own-brand apple cider vinegar SKU, made from apples that do not meet traditional aesthetic standards.
The first batch yielded 30,000 litres of vinegar and has helped to prevent 50 tonnes of apples from being wasted.
The Continente Seleção Apple of Alcobaça Cider Vinegar, produced from fresh apple juice, has also obtained IGP certification, the retailer noted.
Select apple varieties – including Casa Nova, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Royal Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Reineta and Pink – have been used in making the vinegar.
Continente challenged five apple producers from Alcobaça – a Portuguese city and municipality 100 kilometres north of Lisbon – to develop a product using small or deformed apples that are not commercially viable.
Ondina Afonso, president of the Continente Producers’ Club, added, “The project began through an initiative of the Continente Producers’ Club, the ‘Waste Fair’, aimed at producers, promoting the valuation of some products, such as those that the end customer does not value, nor wants to buy, such as fruit that is too small or with defects.”
The Project
Apple producers Narc Frutas, Cooperfrutas, Frutalvor, Campotec and Lusofruta collaborated with Continente’s industrial partner, Mendes Gonçalves, to create the product.
Jorge Soares, administrator of Campotec, added, “We already have a very old partnership with MC [Mendes Gonçalves], of supplying apples from Alcobaça, and this project arises from the communion of the work of several producers as a way of solving the problem of apples that would result in food waste.
“The Alcobaça Apple Vinegar is a way for us to help the planet by transforming these apples into a value-added product.”
Read More: Continente Launches Vegan Alternative To Yoghurts
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest private-label news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
