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L’asperge est un légume dont la respiration est particulièrement intense. Elle peut se déshydrater facilement ce qui entraine une perte de poids très rapide. La perte d’eau génère la formation de stries qui déclassent rapidement le produit. Ce produit fragile peut perdre très rapidement en qualité. Une botte d’asperge non emballée peut présenter en magasin des symptômes de déshydratation marquée dès le deuxième jour. L’intensité respiratoire peut être limitée en conservant le produit à basse température et/ou en modifiant l’atmosphère.

Ralentir le flétrissement et la coloration

L’emballage des bottes d’asperge avec du film polypropylène microperforé permet de créer une atmosphère modifiée, réduisant la concentration en oxygène dans le sachet, sachant que ce conditionnement permet d’augmenter la durée de vie en magasin de plusieurs jours. Les essais mis en place entre 2011 et 2015 par le CTIFL (1) sur asperge blanche avaient pour objectifs de réduire la perte de poids, de ralentir le flétrissement et la coloration des turions, tout en minimisant la formation de buée dans les sachets lors de leur mise sur l’étal, ceci sans que le préemballage ne modifie les aspects de texture et de goût. Ces essais ont permis de montrer que le préemballage, quelle que soit la perméabilité testée (non perforé, macro et microperforé) limite considérablement la perte de poids au cours d’une conservation au point de vente. De plus, ils ont permis de définir une gamme de perméabilité permettant de conserver les qualités visuelles des turions. Le choix de la perméabilité doit également permettre de maintenir la qualité organoleptique. Dans les conditions des différents essais, il apparaît que le conditionnement dans des sachets en polypropylène entraînerait une diminution de la perception du caractère sucré quelle que soit la perméabilité testée. La modalité non emballé est significativement perçue plus sucrée que les trois autres modalités, lorsque la simulation point de vente dure huit jours. En revanche, si la conservation au point de vente dure six jours, seule la modalité non perforé est significativement moins sucrée que les trois autres. Sur le caractère amer, qui vient en opposition du sucré, l’influence de l’emballage est également mise en évidence. Il y a une augmentation croissante de l’amertume perçue corrélée à la diminution de la perméabilité. La modalité non perforé est significativement plus amère que le produit frais. Pour le caractère croquant, le « classement » des modalités est le même : l’emballage le plus imperméable entraîne une perte de croquant. On constate également que le préemballage dans un film macroperforé entraîne une hausse du caractère croquant de manière significative.

Une perméabilité s’est avérée optimale

Pour le caractère fondant, qui vient en opposition du croquant, les conclusions vont dans le même sens : le produit frais est intermédiaire. Ainsi le préemballage dans un film macroperforé entraîne une perte du fondant (hausse du croquant constatée précédemment) et le préemballage dans un film imperméable entraîne une augmentation du fondant (baisse du croquant constatée précédemment). Concernant les caractères tendre et fibreux, on constate une logique d’opposition dans les classements des modalités. Ainsi, au cours de la conservation, les turions deviennent plus fibreux. Cette évolution est limitée par l’étanchéité croissante du film : la tendance est la même pour tous les  essais réalisés. Les nombreuses modalités testées mettent  en avant une gamme de perméabilités (de 3 μm²/cm² à plus de 12 μm²/cm²) qui, dans les conditions particulières  de ces essais (conditions de température de point de vente avec alternance jour/nuit), semblent être les mieux adaptées pour prolonger la conservation du produit avec une qualité acceptable (limitation du verdissement et de la perte de poids (0,5 à 1 %)). Ces essais montrent également les limites à partir desquelles on observe des défauts de conservation. Afin de garantir le maintien des critères organoleptiques (goût et texture), il est préférable d’éviter les perméabilités trop élevées comme celle testée via le film macroperforé. Ainsi, une perméabilité de l’ordre de 5 μm²/cm² s’est avérée optimale. Avec des températures plus basses, la conservation est encore prolongée avec un optimum à 2 °C. Cette température utilisée au stockage permet de prolonger la conservation du produit au-delà de 15 jours, toutefois elle parait très difficilement applicable sur le lieu de vente.

 

The interest of pre-packaged in reprieve

In France, studies carried out by CTIFL show that polypropylene sachets can significantly limit the asparagus weight loss and extend its shelf life at the point of sale. However, they can change certain taste criteria (sweetness, bitterness, crunchiness, etc.). But their use is in question due to the coming French regulation concerning the use of plastic packaging.

 

 

How has the pandemic affected your operations?

Andreas Löbke, Production Manager

For the 2020 season we had a shortage of about 25%, especially women from Poland who decided to stay with their families. We understood and respected their decisions. In March 2020, much of what was happening was new and unknown and presented us with some challenges. Due to the great commitment of our staff, we were able to implement all the necessary hygiene measures in a short time. Disinfectants were organised from various sources, masks were sewn at employees’ homes, the entire company premises were fenced off and guarded by a gatekeeper. We had 25% less production. But people who came working for us stayed for a longer period than usual, which helped. We have since learned to deal with the situation and have further tightened and improved our measures and hygiene standards. But the mutations with the higher infection rates worry us. In 2020, we had no infections on the farm. We hope that we will be able to do the same in 2021. We believe that customers are eagerly awaiting the first fresh asparagus and that sales in 2021 will be good.

How has it affected marketing, consumption and logistics?

None of our usual sales to gastronomy and canteen kitchen customers took place. Sales to food retailers worked well – but all on a lower base level. Our markets and our customer relationships have developed robustly, however. Consumers seemed to place more value on high-quality, fresh asparagus and ate a little more asparagus at home, maybe because they couldn’t go out to restaurants. Our exports, mainly to Scandinavia, have remained stable. Our logistics partners were able to deliver everything as agreed. Our own logistics also functioned reliably.

 

 

 

How has the pandemic affected your operations?

Sergio Sinova, general manager

The availability of personnel has become one of the greatest challenges for all producers, regardless of origin, for various reasons: increased salary costs, restrictions on hiring foreign personnel due to limitations on international mobility to combat Covid-19 and increased personal space requirements for each worker to prevent contagion. All of this has resulted in fewer workers and lower productivity, or in extraordinary costs to adapt facilities to Covid-19 protocols. Like all companies, we have had to bear significant costs to adapt our facilities to Covid-19 protocols. Similarly, we’ve seen an increase in labour costs resulting from having to alternate personnel in our facilities, and we have had to constantly replace personnel in the event of Covid-19 infections. In addition, production rates have been reduced by having to prioritise space and reduce the number of workers in the warehouses.

How has it affected marketing, consumption and logistics?

The food service restrictions diverted demand for fresh green asparagus to greengrocers and supermarkets. The 2020 Spanish campaign largely coincided with the March-May lockdown, which reduced fresh asparagus consumption, especially early in the campaign. The domestic and import campaigns don’t overlap, so consumers don’t have to choose between them. In fact, consumption during the domestic campaign makes them more likely to know the product and thus buy it more often the rest of the year. In the asparagus sector, the greatest impact of Covid-19 has been on air freight logistics for imported products. Prior to the pandemic, the vast majority of asparagus was sent to Europe on passenger planes, whose routes have been cancelled during the pandemic.

 

 

How has the pandemic affected your operations?

Will Teeuwen, Grower

Just before the 2020 asparagus season, we were hit with lockdowns and closed borders in Europe which meant a significant amount of those who had worked at Teboza in past years were unable to return. With enormous effort by everyone in our organisation, we were able to fill the gap, such as by deploying workers from other sectors. This year, we have been in close contact with our employees, and we took control of the entire process from local testing before departure, safe travel and safe accommodation. We have also set up a test and quarantine policy in collaboration with the government and our health and safety officer. We see that after one year away, many people are happy to work with us again and we expect we’ll have enough people to harvest and process every kilogram. The deployment of personnel from other sectors, small-scale accommodation, extra hygiene measures and more and small-scale transport have led to considerable additional costs in the past year, and will also lead to extra costs in the coming year and possibly the coming years.

How has it affected marketing, consumption and logistics?

As in most of Europe, in 2020 the catering industry was closed for almost all the asparagus season. As we expect a similar situation in 2021, our catering-related customers face another difficult year. However home consumption has been remarkably good and has offset the lower turnover. While sustainability in packaging has been an important theme in recent years, last year we saw that from a hygiene point of view, more asparagus was packed in plastic, such as flow packs and trays. We have not experienced any inconvenience with regard to the transport of our products to customers at home and abroad.

 

 

 

How has the pandemic affected your operations?

Mirco Zanelli, Commercial Director

The pandemic prompted Apofruit Group to adopt measures to protect its employees: the spaces dedicated to product processing have been expanded, additional specialist personnel have been recruited, processing lines have been equipped with safety devices such as plexiglass panels, and employees have been provided with protective masks in addition to normal PPE (gloves, caps and caps). In order to ensure the processing and marketing of the product, another processing line has been implemented at another of the group’s plants. While we have had more difficulties hiring workers for harvesting, the quality of our asparagus is unchanged, divided as always into: Extra (40%), 1st Category (50%) and baby asparagus (10%), while our acreage has grown to 240 ha for a total production of 1,000 tons. And due to a new specification, which also covers some new varieties, the production of Apofruit’s green Asparagus of Altedo PGI will be 30% higher this year on 2020.

How has it affected marketing, consumption and logistics?

Last year’s March-May lockdown reduced the purchase frequency for perishables like asparagus in favour of products with longer shelf life. This had a negative impact on the campaign in both supermarkets and general markets but was worse for food service. Overall, our output was not overly high and was well spread out over the period, allowing for more regular marketing and avoiding production peaks that can cause price drops. In Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands, consumption decreased and the presence of local production also affected export volumes. On the logistics front, we have witnessed a slight increase in road transportation costs, mainly due to the initial uncertainty and lack of means.

 

 

 

At Larrere farms we produce organic asparagus. Fully committed into a CSR approach, the respect of nature, soils and plants is essential for us.  Our family farms are located in the heart of Les Landes in France, which is an historical production basin for asparagus growing. In order to extend our production season and to offer to our customers asparagus from January, we started to grow asparagus in our farm BVLH which is located in Comporta in the Alentejo region in Portugal. We chose this region because it is an area which has some very unique geological and climatic conditions, similar to what he have in Les Landes.

In both of our farms, asparagus fields are very close from the Atlantic coast, around ten kilometres from the ocean, and are surrounded by pine forests. The soils are mainly made up of a very clear sand which is typical of those regions. Those soils allow us to cultivate a product of excellence with a strong flavour typicality and sweet aromatic notes.  Today Larrere Farms are already well established on local and French markets but we have the ambition to continue to develop exports by creating partnerships at European and International levels.