Un-Beet-Able Fresh Produce

Our diligent technical team are one of the reasons our fresh produce meets our customer's high expectations, all year round. I spoke with Jamie Ross, one member of our technical team, to get some insider info on exactly what the experts are looking out for when we curate our fruit and veg.

Frost Burn

Frost Burn occurs when fruit or vegetables are stored in an environment which is too cold. Each type of fruit or veg has its own optimal storage temperature (below 8°C for the majority of produce) which is hugely important for our suppliers to adhere by. Otherwise, we receive vegetables with visible browning marks which would not be deemed acceptable by our technical team.

Structure & Colour

We expect all our produce to maintain its original structure, as well as the natural vibrant colours you would expect from top quality produce. This is something we check for on almost all of our produce but it is particularly noticeable with broccoli. Damage can sometimes occur during delivery or storage which could result in missing florets from the broccoli head, or dents or bumps in other types of produce. This is another thing we would deem unacceptable and not allow this to be sent out to our customers. Colour is another thing we look out for. Decolouration can be a result of many things and is easy to notice, but our technical team are always keeping an eye out to make sure our produce is as vibrant as our customers have come to expect over the many years we have been serving the catering industry.

Size

Whoever said size doesn't matter? It does to our technical team anyway! We conduct routine checks to make sure our produce is matching up with the correct size as advertised.

Flaming

This type of discolouration is specific to certain types of fruit (capsicum). If harvested at the wrong point during maturation, we can find discolouration. This is when a green pepper, ripens on the plant and changes colour. This can be from green to yellow. or yellow to red.

Ripening Room

The ripening room is where we store bananas, basil and other types of produce which require more unique storage conditions. The room is kept at a warmer temperature than the rest of our produce facility in order to aid in the ripening process of specific types of produce and to prevent chill damage.

We do all this, so that the next time you order any of our fresh produce, you can be assured you will receive the highest quality of produce available.

See our whole range of fresh produce by clicking here

Disclaimer: We ensure our produce aligns with class one marketing standards. Due to all our fresh produce being natural products, there is a built in tolerance for all of these defects. This means we can accept some of these issues if they are within reason.