Spain’s Agrícola Villena has launched a new line of fresh-cut fruit and vegetables to meet growing trends for health and convenience.
The Alicante-based cooperative, which celebrated its centenary last year, has invested €1.2m in a new automated packing line at its facility in Villena to produce innovative new concepts, including cut vegetables such as carrot batons which will be sold in Mercadona stores throughout Spain under the Hoymecuido brand.
“The launch of this new format responds to the need to provide added value to our horticultural products, adapting to consumer demands for products that allow them to eat a healthy diet quickly and easily,” the company said in a press release issued after Thursday’s inauguration of the new line.
“In short, we are offering our customers health and convenience in a single product.”
In line with its diversification strategy, the company also produces around vegetable trays. It recently signed a deal with Anecoop to develop its range of meal solutions for time-poor consumers.
Marketed under the Bouquet para preparar’ (Bouquet to prepare) brand, the range comprises a selection of fresh premium vegetables in a biodegradable tray, which allows the consumer to purchase all the ingredients to prepare a dish by following a simple recipe.
Agrícola Villena’s is made up of 180 member growers whose production covers 1,435ha. It operates two packing facilities –one in Villena and the other in Jerez de la Frontera –which between them handle around 40 per cent of all the carrots consumed in Spain.
Most of its 70,000-tonne annual output is destined for the national market, although it also exports to Germany, Belgium, France, England and Switzerland.
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