This week I saw large parties of Israeli peppers, which were on their way to being packaged in small packaging. It didn't really cheer us up, says quality specialist Peter Damen of the KCB. In many of the boxes there were rotten fruits, but blemishes were also no exception. A lot of moving around produced acceptable quality, so that the result was adequate. Now the wait for the Dutch pepper starts. I did see some pointed peppers and a type of large green pepper from Morocco that were quite nice.
I did see tomatoes from Dutch soil, but also those from Israel and Morocco. The Dutch won by a long shot, and the Moroccan were a good second, but Israeli were also a pass. The latter origin showed some blemishes. The Dutch yellow cherry tomatoes were baldy presented due to brown break marks where the stalks were. They looked like an older party from storage, but after asking it turned out they were harvested the day before.
Cucumbers were of fine quality, the Spanish too, but especially the Dutch. Beautiful green colour and a fresh appearance. The supermarkets can safely switch.
Because there is so much product from different origins it is important to keep them apart during packaging. The KCB pays special attention to the designations and the tracing of origins of the parties which are ready to go, both now and over the next period. Be careful with this as swapping origins on the label can have serious consequences.
Peter Damen
Quality specialist for the KCB