The Green Deal wagers on organic but the Italian market is also looking to zero residues. Retailers, like consumers, are showing increasing interest. The EU is stalling and there is still no proposal for standardisation. At present, only France and Italy are showing an interest in this innovative route. Distribution chains are still somewhat unsure, while others, like Esselunga and Carrefour, have chosen to embrace it. “We certified this requirement for the first time in 2005 for a frozen product” -Alessandro Mattiazzi, Head of Voluntary Product Certificates in the area linked to primary production, explains-. “There are increasing requests for certification of fruit and vegetable companies: in a year, we received fewer than fifty, for strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, carrots, melon, apricots, mushrooms, walnuts, vegetables and asparagus”. Although there is consensus on the limit to the residues, different approaches are taken by certifying bodies, which do, however, agree on the importance of starting from the agricultural phase and not merely from the analysis of the finished product. “The company applies, defines a set of rules, which starts from agricultural production, describing how it works to guarantee compliance with the requirement, and regulates production starting from the field and thereafter during transformation. We verify compliance with these rules in the field, also debating the choice of phytosanitary products. We then carry out analytical controls in the campaign and in the office”. For CSQA, integrated production is not a prerequisite: zero residues can also be achieved with conventional production. The entities operating in Italy are not entirely aligned on the active ingredients that are or are not permitted for zero residues. “Some entities permit residues above the limit of 0.01 ppm of pesticides in organic products; others, instead, claim the limit must be respected for all active ingredients. Another aspect for which there is a non-homogeneous approach is the limit for products such as copper, which is naturally present in products”. Lapietra products are present in most distribution chains in Southern Italy and in some chains of the North. “All our products are zero residues, certified by Check Fruit -Enzo Lapietra, joint owner together with his brother, Lino, of the agricultural company Lapietra, reports- all our tomato products and the cucumber. We obtained certification of the tomatoes 3-4 years ago, but it has been ten years or so now that the product has effectively been zero residues. Cucumbers were certified this year, but have been respecting requirements for a couple of years now. There are considerable advantages on the market, because consumers are increasingly attentive to such matters. They research what they are buying, find out information and know how much zero residues protect both their health and the environment. And they then choose to reward companies like ours, which recognise these values. Our choice reflects the attention we pay to the consumer and the environment in which we live. Zero residues is difficult to obtain and has been the result of years of hard work, an achievement milestone of what we saw as a real mission. In order to now maintain this certification over time, we need to continuously monitor our productions. And it doesn’t end here: even our neighbours need to keep their fields monitored”. At Macfrut 2022, the Op Consorzio Funghi di Treviso has launched the new Zero Residues line. The first products released to the market mid-May were the Crema button and Portobello mushrooms. “The line is certified by CSQA. Our other mushroom families will soon be following suit: White Mushroom, Oyster, Poplar and Branched Oyster Mushroom -reports Marta Fuser, Sales Manager for the Op Consorzio Funghi of Treviso-. At present, the Zero Residues line is a project we have focussed on the Italian market: products are available from the supermarkets of a client of ours operating in large retail distribution. Feedback is good and this allows us to be optimistic as to the possibility that distribution will extend in the short-term. We do not exclude possible future involvement with foreign markets too. Close attention is today paid, particularly following the pandemic, to all topics relating to well-being, naturalness and sustainability. We had been planning to embark on the zero residues choice for some time. And now the market looks to be effectively heading this way, with an increasing number of these products in the fruit and vegetables market. It is a choice that reflects the sustainability of the company and that meets with the increasing sensitivity shown by consumers to this topic”.
The Società cooperativa agricola Sant’Orsola in Trento has managed to produce zero residues raspberries (certified CSQA), which is an absolute first for Italy. This flanks the zero residue blueberry produced in 2020 initially by its members operating in the hilly areas of Sicily and Marche, but from this year also in Trentino and Calabria. “Zero residue berries are an indisputable success, given the exceptional appreciation shown by consumers and the market last year of our first zero residue blueberry, which was chosen by consumers as 2022 Product of the Year -explains the General Manager of the cooperative company Sant’Orsola, Matteo Bortolini-. Producing zero residue raspberries took the combination of all the competences acquired by the staff of researchers and testers of the agricultural cooperative company. The raspberry plant is, in fact, by nature extremely delicate. Zero residue raspberries are the result of 15 years of research carried out in the company’s experimental field on the Trentino plateau of Vigolana, the results of which are transferred to the producing members, which apply the practices in their fields. It is therefore a virtuous child of the whole chain. Zero residue berries are a huge opportunity for all our producers, whether growing in the ground or using soilless techniques”. Early 2020, Romagnoli launched the èVita Zero Residues, 100% Italian potatoes. “The testings that have allowed us to obtain this product lasted four years, under the scientific guidance of the Department for Innovation in Organic Agricultural ood and Forestry Systems (Dibaf) of the University of Tuscia and Legambiente -Giulio Romagnoli-, CEO of Romagnoli F.lli Spa, explains. The certification body is Check Fruit. We have selected “new generation” potato varieties that are naturally tolerant of the main pathogens affecting crops. The variety research also included a thorough investigation of the quality of the product’s organoleptic characteristics. The varieties found to best satisfy all the criteria sought were Levante and Twister, with yellow skin, and Alouette, with a red skin”. The numbers reward the choice to the extent that starting July 2022, a new product is proposed on the market, obtained in this way, the èVita Zero Residue onion. “The last campaign of the èVita Zero Residues new potatoes was a real success, with +270% of volumes on 2020-21, allowing us to pursue this route without hesitation”.
At present, ten brands have chosen to include èVita Zero Residue new potatoes in their stores. “To increase the presence of this product, however, it is important to define exactly what is meant by zero residues, i.e. to spread its culture, making it possible to clearly identify the plus points that this segment brings with it: for example, the need to use varieties tolerant of the main plant diseases, thereby considerably reducing chemical treatments but, at the same time, protecting the agricultural entrepreneur, without neglecting taste and quality, which are, of course, essential drivers. There is huge room for growth. Organised distribution will need to play its part, on the one hand, and the range be extended, on the other”. Belgravia is a company specialised in the production of baby leaf, with an important production set-up. Owned by the Camozzi family, it has more than 180 hectares between Bergamo, Campiglia Marittima (Li) and Battipaglia (Sa). But it is also an Op with almost 500 hectares of crops guaranteeing the availability of raw materials all year round. At the April Marca, it unveiled the zero residues range distributed with the own brand. “We are Europe’s first company to have obtained certification for baby leaf, but we are working on extending the range. The entity that certified both the process and products is Dnv. It is a very ambitious project on which we have been working for around 5 years -Monia Celegato, Sales Manager, explains-. We are ahead of the EU Directives that will rule on an ever more limited use of agropharmaceuticals. The latest market research suggests that the requirement most guiding customer’s choices when making a purchase is precisely the absence of pesticides. The innovative agricultural practices used to achieve this threshold amongst others also involve considerable savings in water. There is, without doubt, significant attention and interest paid to the topic by large retail distribution as well as by HoReCa. We are starting to distribute on both channels”. Bonduelle has been offering products free from pesticide residues for some time now. “We started introducing Corn free from pesticide residues in 2019 and Iceberg lettuce in 2020, the first ready-to-eat lettuce product in Italy to be free from residual pesticides -Laura Bettazzoli tells, Marketing Manager for Bonduelle Italy-. And in 2021, various frozen products were also added, like extra-fine green beans, fine peas and spinach, with the aim of gradually extending to include more and more products”. In order to achieve this goal, Bonduelle also uses other growing practices. In addition, for several years now, Bonduelle has been working hard to make sure that all its fresh vegetable producers abandon the use of these pesticides by 2025. “Our pesticide-free products are sold on large retail distribution and can be identified thanks a simple, direct graphic design with wording on the front of the packs and more information about our Bonduelle s’impegna programme on the back”.
Since 1926, Freddi Prodotti Ortofrutticoli has been specialised in the distribution of fresh onions and reference supplier for large retail distribution, also operating in exports. Key products include the Borettana onion of Emilia, the Emilia shallot and various varieties of onion and potato. Zero residues was a test for the company, also not completed due to costs and a certain degree of mistrust still shown by retail distribution. “Our route towards zero residue production began a few years back following notification from our French colleagues, who began driving this type of crops” – Matteo Freddi recalls -. “We decided to try and grow our best-known specialities: the Borettana onion of Emilia and the Emilia shallot, using our long-term collaboration with Sata Srl (a company specialised in supporting agricultural and transformation companies in the development of the best agricultural techniques), without obtaining product certification but seeking to understand how they would have behaved both in the field and in terms of long-term storage. The choice of zero residues is not a passing fashion but rather a need to make the effort being made in Italy in choosing the route of integrated production, more understandable and clearer to the consumer. It is a system that has already protected the environment in recent decades, minimising the use of agropharmaceuticals. We have still not presented retail distribution with our dedicated line insofar as we are considering a system that combines a global improvement of the environmental impact linked with packaging with minimal packaging weight and reduced carbon footprint. What is slightly perplexing is the shelf positioning retail would like to adopt: it will, without doubt, somewhat disturb organic and conventional produce, but I believe it could also remove share from distributor brands”.
