Plant-based snacking: Solely uses “imperfect produce” in fruit jerky launch

20 Aug 2019 --- Just in time for the back-to-school season, Solely, Inc. has launched its line of six certified-organic, single and two-ingredient fruit jerkies across Whole Foods Market Stores in the US. The launch comes at a time of growth in plant-based snacking. Solely Inc. is a subsidiary of Mexico City-based Fruitex, an innovative clean food company that is rethinking how food is developed, grown, sourced, processed and sold. The company also works with farmers to reduce food waste by sourcing imperfect fruit for its products.

“Our company’s values are fully aligned with those of Whole Foods, and we are laser-focused on bringing our world-class innovation and supply chain capabilities – in plant-based snacking and nutrition – to bear,” says Simon Sacal, Solely’s CEO.

Solely uses a patented cold-pressing process to transform fresh, organic produce into an all-natural, single portion jerky snack. The tasting experience of the fruit jerky is akin to that of biting into a fresh fruit in texture, aroma and taste, notes the company. Each strip is one whole fruit (half of a fruit in the case of the pineapple flavor), without any added sugars, concentrates, sulfites or other hidden ingredients.

All of the company’s fruit snacks are made from ripe and delicious, yet sometimes esthetically imperfect fruit. “We work with our farmers and in our factories to reduce food waste as much as possible,” says Gabriel Sacal, Co-Founder of the company. “Each piece is chosen for its flavor, nutrient quality and ripeness, we don’t throw away product that is not perfect because we know nature allows for imperfections. We gently and slowly dry our fruit in our own processing facilities, for a naturally sweet flavor in each bite. Our unique process allows for each bite to taste as succulent and flavorful as a fresh, ripe fruit without all the added sugars and preservatives of most products in the market.”

The company has strategically placed its processing facilities close to its fields. Similarly, its innovative packaging design is minimalistic and aims to offer a long shelf life while minimizing the products’ carbon footprint.

The plant-based food market is growing at double-digit rates and expected to reach US$5.2 billion worldwide by 2020 and a significant proportion of this will be down to plant-based snacks.

The trend in plant-based foods is not slowing down either. A CAGR in products featuring the plant-based claims such as “plant-based” and “100 percent plant,” has been +60 percent from 2012-2016. The “mindful consumer” was listed as Innova Market Insight’s top trend for this year, which certainly crosses over into the snacking category. Consumers are more conscious than ever about making responsible food choices that are not only healthy, but that also take sustainability and ethical considerations into account.

Edited by Gaynor Selby