Quality standard The British Quality Chip Charter (BQCC) is being rolled out nationwide in a bid to try and guarantee the perfect chip.
The charter is aimed at supplying the fish and chip shop trade with chipping potatoes of a guaranteed minimum standard and ensure both growers and friers obtain maximum profit from their chipping potatoes every time.
The standard is also aimed at defending the UK market for fresh British potatoes against imported part-fried products.
Managed and run by the British Potato Marketing Association, the BQCC scheme was approved and launched in conjunction with the National Federation of Fish Friers and the British Potato Council.
Cambridgeshire-based MBM Produce Ltd are one of only a few suppliers who are approved members of the BQCC standard mark scheme and as such it is able to supply both its well known brand Chippie’s Choice, as well as other chipping potatoes in bags featuring the distinctive BQCC logo.
To carry the logo, chipping potatoes will be required to meet certain specifications with regards to dry matter, size, fry colour and defect levels.
These requirements have been specified by friers’ representatives and guarantee that BQCC potatoes will produce only light, golden, fluffy but firm textured chips every time.
The standards will also limit wastage and cut down the time taken in preparation for friers - just a five per cent increase in the amount of chips produced is likely to earn the frier nearly £2 extra from each bag and it will not take much of a reduction in rumbling time or hand trimming to achieve far more than this.
As such both growers and suppliers will also be able to obtain an increased return on bags carrying the BQCC logo.
MBM claimed its Chippie’s Choice brand of fresh chipping potatoes ensures the production of the perfect chip every time - guaranteed.
A spokesman for MBM said: “Some Chippie’s Choice potatoes are grown in Lincolnshire, but most are grown on the black peat soils of the Cambridgeshire Fens which are generally regarded as producing the best chipping Maris Piper.
“The potatoes produced have a good flavour, good keeping quality and provide consistent results every time.”
He said Maris Piper is traditionally the frier’s preferred chip producing potato variety and is the main variety used for Chippie’s Choice.
Other varieties though are also available under the company’s Chippie’s Choice brand at certain times of the year.
“One such variety is Victoria, which has come out of MBM’s new variety development programme,” he said. “Victoria is a yellow-fleshed potato variety that not only produces the best golden chips but is also less susceptible than Maris Piper to the problems caused by dry growing conditions. As it becomes more widely grown, Victoria is also available under the Chippie’s Choice brand.”
Chippie’s Choice chipping potatoes are available in 25kg bags and, to cater for the diverse customer base, the storage, preparation and frying guidelines on the back of MBM’s Chippie’s Choice bags are in Italian, Turkish, Greek, Indian (Punjabi) and Chinese (Mandarin) as well as English.
With its own distribution division and customers nationwide, MBM said it is looking to supply Chippie’s Choice and other chipping potato brands to wholesalers throughout the UK.
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