Organic pears

Global Fruit Point (GFP) has announced that it has successfully renewed its organic audit, which included an update of the Demeter certification scheme.

What began in March last year with the first arrival of William’s pears at the port of Rotterdam has now developed into a regular programme with biodynamic topfruit from Argentina.

Today, the Hamburg-based importer sells Demeter-certified pears including William's, Red Bartlett, Packhams, Abate Fetel, Beurré Giffard, D'Anjou, and Forelle. For apples, the product range comprises Royal Gala, Cripps Pink, Pinova, Fuji, Braeburn and Granny Smith.

Up to now, the company has concentrated on apples and pears from the Río Negro region sourced from Patagonian Fruits Trade.

Quality assurance manager Thies Claussen said: 'Thanks to our long-standing partnership we were able to build on the existing trustful relationship, and so it was only a logical consequence to extend our cooperation to Demeter products'.

GFP said the decision to obtain Demeter accreditation followed the demands of the market, as there is an increasing interest in fruit that not only meets the minimum requirements of the EU Organic Regulation, but also the much stricter standards of growers' associations such as Demeter.

For the time being GFP’s biodynamic offer is limited to an exclusive range of Demeter apples and pears – although the company said it may extend this to other products in future.