Zucchiolo and Mirical triumph at Fruit Logistica Innovation Awards

Zucchiolo, the new vegetable product from Unica Fresh in Spain, has won this year’s Fruit Logistica Innovation Award.

Announced at a special awards ceremony on the final day of Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Zucchiolo was voted by visitors as the most innovative new fresh product in the business.

Consumed fresh or raw in a salad like a cucumber, Zucchiolo can also be cooked like a zucchini or an aubergine.

In addition, 50 per cent of the income generated from its sales are allocated to social purposes, including the fight against cancer and degenerative diseases.

Other nominees in the category included Three Halves Avocado Fresh from Infuseo, Frutastic by Gautier Semences, Exceed Watermelon from Staay Food Group and Calypso Sweet Red Onions by Bedfordshire Growers.

Tech takes centre stage

The first ever Fruit Logistica Innovation Award Technology, a new prize highlighting the technological developments across the business, was won by Koppert’s Mirical release system, which improves application precision and reduces plastic by 99 per cent.

Koppert said that significant improvements had been made to Mirical, its biological control solution for destructive whitefly in greenhouse vegetables.

As a result, the predatory bug Macrolophus pygmaeus was stronger and better able to establish and develop itself in the crop.

Also in the running for FLIA Technology were Aspara To Go by Hepro, Crop Load Vision from Croptracker, Roto-Cut Vegetable Trimmer by Wyma Solutions and Apogee from German Bionic.