Page 29 - Food & Drink Business Jan-Feb 2020

Developing boutique varieties of fresh produce while increasing sustainability is a passion for the family run business, Perfection Fresh. Kim Berry writes.
In search
of perfection
The Toma’Muse is a firm, sweet tomato with a sophisticated flavour.
from recyclable PET. Changing our selected
products from a clamshell punnet to a heat seal tray or cardboard reduced our plastic use by half in 12 months. ✷
Perfection Fresh is the subsidiary of Como Glasshouse, which was #44 on our Australia’s Top 100 Food & Drink Companies 2019.
DEVELOPING boutique varieties of fresh produce is a passion for the family run business, Perfection Fresh.
It has been responsible for produce brands: Calypso mangoes; Broccolini; the baby snacking cucumbers Qukes; Minicaps baby capsicums; Kumato tomatoes; and Berry Perfection raspberries and blueberries.
Its latest tomato variety is the Toma’Muse, a strawberry- shaped tomato with glossy, deep-burgundy skin, developed by specialist plant breeding company TomaTech. It was launched internationally late last year.
Perfection Fresh CEO Michael Simonetta says he has never tasted anything like it.
“It has a sophisticated flavour that has even been compared to a fine wine. With each bite the taste evolves delivering a truly unique eating experience,” he says.
Food & Drink Business asked Simonetta about Perfection Fresh’s operations.
QHow do you decide on what new produce varieties to trial and then grow?
Perfection Fresh works with the world’s leading produce seed varietal companies, to develop new products that
we feel are suited to Australian customers and growers.
We develop new products where we see a gap in the market and focus on varieties that offer a real point of differentiation in relation to taste and usage.
In the case of Tomatech, they specialise in tomato varieties, and produce many different types. Toma’Muse was a variety that we thought was different and something to trial in the Australian market.
The Toma’Muse variety is being grown specifically at the Two Wells facility in Adelaide.
Q
QWhat sort of packaging is used and why?
This depends on where the produce is grown and grower packing capabilities. We are mindful to use recyclable, reusable to compostable packaging wherever possible.
Currently nearly all (98 per cent) of our rigid plastics (punnets and trays) are made
What are the processes
around processing the fruit, packaging and distribution?
We have several tomato production areas and supply partners around Australia.
FRESH PRODUCE
Q
YOUR ONE ANSWER TO ON-SITE FOOD AND BEVERAGE TESTING
Food: bakery products, egg products, fish oil, milk & dairy products, nuts, oils & fats, and more.
Beverage: beer & wort, wine and must and more.
For more information, contact us on
(02) 9882 3666 or at orders@amsl.com.au
amsl.com.au
Can you tell us about your
high tech glasshouse in South Australia?
Perfection Two Wells is a $130 million-plus, state-of-the-art sustainable tomato glasshouse facility, built over four stages.
It is the largest of its type in the southern hemisphere, spanning 35 hectares.
With a total annual production exceeding 17,000 tonnes, the facility employs more than 500 people.
We have a number of exclusive tomato varieties in production including Sweet Solanato, Bello Rosso baby roma tomatoes and Grape Kumato.
In addition to our tomato lines we are also growing Qukes baby cucumbers over four hectares and contract growing Perino tomatoes for Coles.
We are continuously trialling new and improved varieties at Perfection Two Wells with three 500 square metre dedicated trial houses one of which is under lights.
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | January-February 2020 | Food&Drink business | 29