An Australian-based food innovation company is preparing to expand its reach into more international markets, as the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Naturo Technologies launched its ‘All Natural’ avocado range called Natavo™ Avocado four years ago. Naturo Technologies have developed a process that effectively switches off the enzyme that causes avocados to go brown, using the patented Avocado Time Machine (ATM). Over the past few years since the coronavirus outbreak, supplies of Natavo Avocado have been limited, but Director Ross Harris says that this will change in the coming months, with growth on the way.
"We supply 10 countries now with Natavo™ avocado, mainly in South East Asia, but we also have customers in France, Spain and Japan," he said. "With COVID over the past two years, we have had to manage our customer base carefully due to manufacturing capacity constraints. Thankfully, we have recently made some changes to our process that has given us additional scale to grow our business. So, we are looking to expand in Europe, United Kingdom, UAE and the United States later this year."
Delivered via the patented Avocado Time Machine, Natavo™ was developed by the company's Founder & CEO Jeff Hastings. Mr Harris added that once the avocados have been defrosted Natavo Avocado shelf life can be up to ten days.
"We slice or dice the avocado and then put it through the ATM machine, and then Individually Quick Freeze (IQF) it," Mr Harris 
explained. "Standard IQF avocados go brown within a day of defrosting, but Natavo™ Avocado doesn't. Our process also has an in-built kill step that makes it microbially safe. We have placed our ATM machines in a factory in South Africa where we have an excellent manufacturing partner. We take everything that they produce and distribute to our customers around the world."
"Our largest industrial customers are either salad, sandwich or sushi manufacturers," Mr Harris explained. "We have salad manufacturers who have built entire ranges of retail salad bowls around Natavo Avocado. Natavo Avocado enables these processors to include avocado in their ranges, where they never have been able to before because these products need at least a five-day shelf life. We do supply into the foodservice sector as well. These customers enjoy the labour saving and consistency of supply that Natavo offers. We are noticing that as the COVID restrictions are being relaxed globally, our foodservice customers are growing strongly again."
Mr Harris says one of the biggest challenges for all Naturo Technologies customers is inflation and the impact of global supply chain issues. A major focus for Naturo Technologies will be reducing these effects, not only for them but also for their customers.
"Our product is driven first and foremost by the fact that our customers can use avocado where they previously could not, so we are offering a solution in that perspective," Mr Harris said. "The added benefits of labour saving, the product being 100% natural and its superior taste and texture set it apart from other Avocado products.”
For more information
Ross Harris
Naturo Technologies
Phone: +61 7 5324 1417
enquiries@naturotechnologies.com
www.naturotechnologies.com