Germany-based shelf-life solutions specialist Food Freshly has announced the broadening of services at its fruit and vegetable food safety testing laboratory for companies across the fresh produce sector. As well as identifying bacteria hazards, the facility can also be used to carry out shelf-life tests on specific products, enabling producers to gain an accurate idea of a fresh-cut product’s commercial life.
Food Freshly has spent the last two years developing food safety testing systems at its Bielefeld, Germany laboratories with the aim of helping fresh-cut fruit and vegetable processors to deliver products with the maximum level of safety.
Food Freshly Director of Technical Sales, Benjamin Singh: “We are operating a laboratory at Food Freshly headquarters with our food scientists, chemists, and biologists. We are always looking at new ways to provide processes for the fresh-cut industry to reduce bacteria or to improve food safety.”
For companies looking to move away from the use of chlorine washes, Food Freshly can carry out in-house analysis of all kinds of potentially harmful bacteria that can be present in fresh-cut foods and can result in costly recalls.
Shelf-life assessment
However, more than just food safety, Food Freshly’s laboratories can also provide an accurate assessment of shelf-life for ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables, considering certain conditions. “We can really narrow it down on where the problems are with specific fruits,” Singh added. “For example, is it prone to growing certain microorganisms? Certain fruits carry a lot of bacteria at the start and a lot of vegetables, especially root vegetables, can be the most highly contaminated with bacteria.”
Singh said Food Freshly was aiming to provide wider testing services going forward, with the aim of determining what level of control was necessary for each fruit or vegetable item and suggesting optimum options for tackling bacterial threats.
Food Freshly will be exhibiting at Fruit Logistica 2023 in Hall 21,
Stand C-41 from 8-10 February 2023 in Messe Berlin, Germany.
For more information: 
Benjamin Singh
Food Freshly
Phone: +49 521 - 96 8787 15
benjamin.singh@food-freshly.eu
www.food-freshly.eu