Processing & marketing Sunbeam Foods

New crop & product launches

SUNBEAM FOODS & ANGAS PARK

The vines and trees have burst to life, the weather is warming up, the dams are full and the markets are calling out for fruit.

This is a great position for the dried fruit industries to be in as the next crops emerge. Dried vine fruit

The vines have produced a very even bud burst and bunch numbers are very pleasing for the start of the season. The 2021 crop is fully committed and the new season crop is eagerly anticipated. New Sunmuscat pack launch

September saw the launch of the Sunbeam Australian Sunmuscat Sultana 450 gram packet. Featuring 100 per cent Australian Sunmuscats, the rollout to the supermarkets will see this product complement the Sunbeam range and bring focus to Sunmuscats in their own right. The product highlights the Sunmuscats as “plump and juicy, vine ripened for rich sweet taste” and grown throughout the Murray Valley that has a “unique rich sweet muscat flavour that makes for a delicious nutritious snack or a burst of flavour to your favourite recipe”. We have designed a communications plan to support the launch of Sunbeam’s exciting new premium selection, Australian Sunmuscat Sultanas, which will cover digital media, website, print and in-store support. Spray diary

The industry project to implement an online spray diary is progressing well. There will be major benefits for both growers and processors being able to access the most up-to-date chemical information throughout the growing season. Until this is released, growers are reminded that the Dried Fruits Australia Spray Diary is mandatory for all our Sunbeam suppliers to maintain and submit prior to harvest. Vale Brian Boulton

Our condolences to the Boulton family on the recent passing of Brian. Brian has been a passionate dried fruit grower and significant contributor to the dried fruit industry, having represented the Mid-Murray growers over a long period at DFA Board level. He will be sadly missed by all the growers and staff at Sunbeam Foods. Prunes

The trees have flowered and set a very good number of fruit that will require close monitoring and mechanical thinning in areas of excessive crop load. Over the past five years, our suppliers have managed their trees successfully to produce the best size fruit possible to meet the highest paying market, which is pittable fruit. New snack pack launched

At Angas Park, we recently launched a range of handy snack packs that included prunes, dried apple, dates and apricots in handy five sachet boxed products. The new products feature a delicious selection of Angas Park tasty and nutritious dried fruit, with breakthrough 100 per cent home compostable packaging, an industry leading sustainability initiative. These are available from September in Woolworths, Coles and independent retailers. Angas Park has tapped into two major food trends being driven by Australians. The desire to live a healthy lifestyle is leading to more considered and better food choices, and the continuing increase in informal meals and snacking is driving demand for smaller, convenient on-the-go packaging formats. “We talk with consumers regularly, and we’d been getting pretty consistent feedback regarding our dried fruits: ‘We love fruit and want to eat more as a better-for-me snack, but it’s not very convenient in the current large packs'," explains Matt Jenkins, of the Angus Park marketing team. “We’ve responded by taking the bestselling fruits Australians love and simply made it easier for them to be included in today’s on-the-go lifestyle. “By combining the nutritional benefits of a range of fruits Australians already know and love, with the convenience of a new packaging format that fits today’s lifestyle, Angas Park believe they have a formula for success.” Dried tree fruit

While the chill hours were not as plentiful as we would have liked, the various varieties have flowered well enough to produce a reasonable crop. The fruit fly restrictions will be an area of concern for Angas Park as we source fresh fruit from external growers as well as moving fresh fruit from our Pike River property to the Loxton facility. Protocols are being put in place to make it a successful harvest. v

Enquiries: Supply manager dried fruit David Swain / 0407 834 044 Field officer (including SA) Alan Lister / 0409 437 801 Field officer Gary Simpson / 0429 960 234 Dried tree fruits operations manager (Loxton) Luke Fitzsimmons / 0431 894 515