Passina chief on renewed passion fruit focus: Concentration will foster innovation

24 Oct 2018 --- Passina’s move to concentrate completely on passion fruit allows the company to target new growth areas for the tropical fruit, including nutritional supplements and flavors. “We now only offer 100 percent passion fruit products and solutions,” Pablo Hafner, CEO of the Passina Group tells FoodIngredientsFirst in a detailed interview earlier this week at SIAL in Paris. “We believe that this market is very competitive and to succeed, we need to focus on the niche that we know the best, passion fruit,” he notes.

Earlier this month FoodIngredientsFirst reported that the Döhler Group had acquired Concentra Europe BV (more commonly known in the industry under the “Passina” brand) from Passina. The move means that Döhler is now the owner of Passina’s Dutch and German subsidiaries specialized in non-passion fruit or blend juice, puree and concentrates, as Passina refocuses on its core passion fruit business.

Interestingly, the concentration will open up innovation routes for Passina. “The market for passion fruit is mostly focused on juices and concentrates for the food industry. Now we are innovating in applications for the cosmetics and nutritional supplements industry,” he reveals. This is an entirely new area of development. “We have our R&D department and are also partnering with various research organizations, mainly in the US and Europe. We are now working in the research phase and we want to launch nutritional supplements based on passion fruit in 2019,” says Hafner.

Besides adding an exotic and savory touch to dishes, passion fruit and its ingredients offer a range of health benefits. Passina lists a few as follows:
• Adding low-calorie, enriching fibers to dietetic snacks (from seeds).
• Reducing sleep disorder and restlessness through herbal teas (from leaves and extracts).
• Anti-inflammatory effects.

Swiss-headquartered Passina is a global business specializing in passion fruit. With its processing facility in Ecuador, Tropifrutas SA and worldwide research, supply and distribution network, the group's focus is the development, production and commercialization of natural passion fruit-based products and solutions.

“We started with passion fruit 50 years ago and then we diversified. Three years ago we started refocusing on passion fruit. The divestment of the Dutch unit to Döhler was the end stage that has been going for several years,” says Hafner. 

Some 50 percent of Passina's product comes from the high-quality source of Ecuador, but the company also sources from other passion fruit regions to ensure a diversified supply and resultantly be less susceptible to local interruptions. “We have our production in Ecuador and have set partnerships in Vietnam, Peru and the Ivory Coast to meet our customers' needs,” Hafner notes.

Securing future supply will be key through the use of a sustainable model. “The problem of our industry is sustainable agriculture. We are developing ways to have sustainable agriculture because the amount of fruit available is decreasing in key geographical areas. We are not increasing production, but we are more focused on benefiting the whole fruit, avoiding food waste,” he notes.

At SIAL 2018, Passina unveiled their new branding with a logo reflecting “a fresh and innovative approach to the new range of solutions designed to meet consumer needs and expectations in the food and beverage, food supplement and cosmetics sectors.” Crucial to this process is the brand's conscious commitment to pursue responsible sustainability-oriented practices with all local communities linked to the Passina business. “It is showing the flexibility and adaption to new markets. The approach really shows the shift from the fruit beverages to nutraceuticals and cosmetics,” he explains.

Also at SIAL, Döhler commented more concretely on the Concentra acquisition, which will strengthen their position in the Netherlands, albeit in a relatively small move in the context of the company as a whole. With a capacity of some 30,000 tons, the buy offers some 15 percent additional capacity in the Netherlands.

No financial details of the deal have been disclosed and the proposed transaction has now been filed with the relevant antitrust authorities.

“Döhler is a major player in fruit and vegetable processing,” Kees Cools, Global Head of Business Units Fruits and Vegetable Ingredients tells FoodIngredientsFirst. “Twenty years ago we started an active policy of backward integration from compounder/blender and actively acquired processing capabilities across the world,” noting that this is a logical progression down this route.

“In total, we have 41 factories and 27 of those are processing massive amounts of any fruit and vegetable you can think of into juices, concentrates, purees and specialties. So you have to see the Passina buy in that context. It is close to our biggest plant in Holland in Oosterhout and we needed the extra capacity. The interesting thing is that Passina is renting all of its buildings and cold stores and in two years’ time the city of Breda will be looking to develop that location into apartments. So that will give us an excellent opportunity to integrate it into our Oosterhout facility,” he concludes.

Earlier this week we reported that The Döhler Group had acquired a majority stake in Nutrafood S.r.l., in a move the company says marks a “milestone” toward achieving a leading position in the plant-based nutrition segment. Nutrafood's portfolio complements Döhler’s range in the area of plant-based food and beverages, where the company currently provides solutions in categories ranging from smoothies to spoonables. 

By Robin Wyers