Worried salad suppliers need E.coli crystal ball

Lever told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “Sales are still down. Prices had hit the floor, you could name your price for a pallet of cues, but they are starting to pick up a bit, but they are not jumping up. Tomatoes and cues have been worst affected. ​

“I don’t know how long this will carry on for, it’s a crystal ball job. We need a spell of hot weather so people forget about the problems and start buying salad again​.”

Salad supplier Florette will begin consumer research next week aimed at examining how the German E.coli outbreak has affected perceptions of salad, as the industry counts the cost of the outbreak.

Mixed messages​

Sandy Sewell, Florette commercial director told FoodManufacture.co.uk that the uncertainty which surrounded the source of the E.coli outbreak had triggered mixed messages about fresh produce for the industry as a whole.

He said Florette’s market research next week would explore purchasing behaviour and perceptions of salad, to gain a more accurate understanding of how the uncertainty might have impacted consumer behaviour.

“We haven’t witnessed any significant sales decline over recent weeks,”​ Sewell said.​

“It is genuinely difficult to identify any resulting trends given the major weather fluctuations that the salad category has seen, contrasting against both the extreme April conditions, and against the ongoing forecast​.”

Kneejerk reaction​

Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) ceo Nigel Jenney told FoodManufacture.co.uk that latest estimates from Europe suggested that the scare has cost the fresh produce industry at least £500m across Europe, with that figure rising by the day.

“The latest UK estimates to date are around £3m so far, with losses in volume and in value across a range of salad products​,”​ he said.

The outbreak has been traced to beansprouts farmed near Hamburg, but Jenney said memories of emotive headlines had put off UK consumers.

“There has been a massive kneejerk reaction, and we urgently need to bring confidence back to the consumer​.”

Salt in wounds​

Jenney said the EC could co-fund promotional campaign to promote positive messages on fresh produce, but this money would not be available until Autumn and would have to be match-funded by the industry, “rubbing salt into our wounds​”.

He said: “We need to ensure that the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and others understand the magnitude of what has happened. The UK government poured millions into the banking industry at the time of the bank crash but nothing is being done to help us​.”