The initiative is aimed at improving the 'end-of-life' quality of product through even tighter cold chain maintenance and in reducing foreign bodies complaints via better on-off line inspection.

Technical director Steve Rothwell told freshinfo: 'By making this investment, Vitacress hopes to further strengthen its position as an industry leader in everything related to the quality of baby leaf salads. It has already been instrumental in setting standards for quality as well as the cumulative degree hours between harvest and delivery to the customer.' The new complex, which has more than 27,000 sq ft of refrigerated floor space, will be maintained at a regime of 2°C to 5°C throughout and will feed the St Mary Bourne packhouse on a just-in-time basis. It will handle all leafy salads grown across the Vitacress supply base including product sourced from the UK, Portugal, Spain, Kenya and the US.

'Consignments will be quality assessed with measurements of processability and processable yield incorporated into that assessment,' Rothwell added.

The Vitacress Group, which has a turnover of £70 million annually, markets around 120 tonnes of baby leaf salads a week. Of this, baby leaf spinach accounts for approximately 30 per cent of sales, watercress 25 per cent and wild roquette 20 per cent. The balance is largely down to a portfolio of baby leaf lettuce, brassicas and herbs, a growing number of which are produced from varieties exclusive to Vitacress.

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