Having clocked up more than 2,100 organisations on its database, Hairyape is offering one free advanced search to people wanting to try out the web-based service for themselves.

Hairyape.co.uk is the largest, interactive fresh produce search engine in the world and, with information on fresh produce from 115 countries, this amounts to more than 10,000 lines of information.

Managing director Martin Clifford told freshinfo: 'When we started out we were just trying to feel our way, and we've found the users of the site have become very international but that's the nature of the internet. There are exporters from all over the place – a mix from South America to Europe, and there are companies of all sizes using the site.

'Most people, like the international companies, are looking for people to export to. Like everything, there's too much over-production in fresh produce, and the exporters are getting the most use out of the site. But people can use Hairyape in any way they like.

'Because we decided not to go down the commission-taking route, we never follow transactions all the way through so it's difficult to say exactly what sort of trade is being done via Hairyape, but people do give us good feedback.

'We're more like a dating agency really – if we can introduce people who can work together than we're happy with that.'