Open the future
NewsBiBox
Special Apple juice issue
CONTENTS - JUNE 2015
Report
Booming market in Poland
Tech
Apple juice microbiology
smurfitkappa.es/baginbox
1
DÉCEMBRE 2014
Smurfit Kappa Bag-in-Box Argentina
Baguin
Calle 14 Nº 359 Parque Industrial Pilar
(B1629MXA ) Pilar, Buenos Aires
Tel: + 54 (230) 449
9797/798/799/000
smurfitkappa.es/baginbox
Report
Spotlight on
the Polish apple
juice market
Poland is the biggest producer of apples in
Europe, counting for 29% of apple production
in Europe with a production of apples
reaching more than 3 million of tons. Juice
per capita consumption remains the highest
in Eastern Europe.
2
JUNE 2014
A
fter a fall in 2000s, the last few
years have seen a softening
in the rate of volume decline,
thanks to the development
of NFC ambient and chilled juice by the
major players, in response to the growing
consumer interest in health/well-being.
Monika Plaskota, Sales Manager for
Poland, takes us behind the scenes of this
market for Smurfit Kappa.
WHAT IS THE SITUATION OF NFC APPLE
JUICE MARKET IN POLAND??
Poland is a historical apple juice market.
For a very long time, the pasteurised
apple juice had been produced at home
or at artisanal level. Five years ago
only, the NFC apple juice entered the
supermarkets. In my opinion, the apple
juice market has the potential to grow
another 2 or 3 years before achieving
maturity. As for Bag-in-Box®, the real
boom occurred in 2013, when the
biggest company Bewa started the
production and now the situation is
not have time and equipment and,
furthermore, can afford to buy it.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN REASONS OF
MOVING TOWARDS THE BIB?
The BIB is really easy to fill - a producer
can start filling BIB with a machine less
than 10.000 €, and is cheaper than glass
bottles. The logistics savings are also
very importnant - it is delivered flat, the
storage space is reduced, the transport
costs and carbon footprint are lower.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR THE FINAL
CONSUMERS?
The consumers love it. They are used to
the Vitop tap, they appreciate the lack
of residue and the freshness. In Poland,
you can see Bag-in-Box® with apple juice
everywhere!
ALSO IN BIG SUPERMARKETS?
All the big supermarket chains, such as
Auchan, Carrefour, Biedrunka, Leclerc
or Polomarket offer it, may it come from
big producers of from small local ones.
Actually, the 7 big players supply big
chains, completed by almost 100 smaller
producers. For the moment, the market
is quite atomised.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN ISSUES FOR APPLE
JUICE IN BAG-IN-BOX® IN POLAND?
It is extremely important to have a good
selection of apples and good filtration
and pasteurisation process in order to
get a quality juice at the end.
FOCUS
SAD SANDOMIERSKI
S
still very positive. The Polish apple juice
market depends a lot on season, just like
in other countries, but also on political
situation. The economic sanctions
against Russia for example: suddenly,
people had masses of apples and didn’t
know what to do with them. Many of
them started to process them and the
Bag-in-Box® was a perfect solution.
Today, the producers found new markets
and we are facing a completely different
problem - lack of apples for NFC juice
and price growth. Only producers who
have contracted their supply of apples
will have enough.
ad Sandomiersky is a group of producers of fruit and vegetables,
associating almost 100 farmers with 500ha land, located in the south-east
Poland. The annual production potential reaches over a dozen thousand
tons. All suppliers produce fruit in compliance with the rules of the
Integrated Fruit Production system which quarantees that the customers receive
only health fruit without any pesticides.
The apples are harvested to produce fresh, natural apple juice. In order to keep
the best quality and taste, the apples are harvested from trees and not from the
ground so as to avoid rotten apples. The apples are then squeezed into juice, only
lightly pasteurized and then hot filled to the Bag-in-Box® to give it a longer shelflife - up to 12 months after before opening. After opening, the juice in Bag-in-Box®
can be kept fresh for 14 days.
The juices are 100% naturally cloudy with unique taste and smell of fresh juicy
apple. Ms. Dziarmaga from Sad Sandomierski, explains: “Our consumers want
the juice to be cloudy, they know it is only fresh, natural juice. Also, Bag-in-Box®
is the perfect packaging for natural apple juice and the consumers are used to it.
They know they do not have to read the ingredients - it’s only 100% juice”. The
juices do not contain any added water, sugar, preservitves or dyes- it is only 100%
natural squeezed juice from fresh apples and another fruit which keeps almost all
the vitamins and nutrients.
Sad Sandomiersky is selling its juices all over Poland, in big retail chains such as
Tesco, Alma, Lidl and Dino and starts exporting.
HAVE CONSUMPTION PATTERNS
CHANGED?
Polish people have always consumed
apple juice, especially in winter when
there are no fresh fruits, before turning
to water and fresh drinks in summer.
Even in schools, children are given
free apples. In the past, many families
were doing their own juice from their
backyard. Today, young families do
JUNE 2014
3
Story
Opening the apple
juice market in Chile
“In Chili it is very usual to see
people drink very sugary soft
drinks or artificial nectars. And
here the most common juices
are peach nectar and orange
nectar” Juan Pablo Farias
Vidal, Tamm’s brand manager,
comments.
Nevertheless Chileans are starting to become
aware of the importance of their health and they
are starting to change their consumptions habits,
they are leaning towards a more natural market
with products with no sugar added, no water
added, without any additives or preservatives.
Roberto Tamm y Compañía Limitada, a Chilean
enterprise, dedicated to the fruit exportation,
has understood this new necessity and began to
produce natural fruit juice.
“Chili is a fruit producing country, where we can
find lots of apple, pear, kiwi, cherry, and grapes…”
Juan Pablo Farias Vidal says, “…and Tamm had a
large quantity of extra fruit to produce fruit juice.”
So Andrés Tamm, the general manager of the
enterprise, started to search a way to make this
happen, and he found the solution in one of his
trips to Europe in Slovenia, he found every machine
he needed from fruit pressing machines through
pasteurizing machines until filling machines.
Then he started to develop the project in Chili, and
in 2012 Tamm started the production of apple,
pear, and apple-kiwi juices, greatly appreciated
flavors for Chileans, 100% natural juices which
contains natural vitamins A and C, and antioxidants;
packaged in little boxes for the children, glass
bottles and 5L Bag-in-Box® format. The idea of
using the 5L Bag-in-Box® format came from the
use of it in wineries, and it result to be a great idea
for the familiar format, thanks to its convenience
and its long conservation.
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JUNE 2015
DISCOVERING TAMM FRUITS
T
he factory produces monthly
an approximate of 9.000 liters
of juice in 5L Bag-in-Box® and it
also produces juice for really big
Bag-in-Box® formats for juice mixtures
and juice exportation (220L Bag-in-Box®
format).
They use the pasteurizing process for the
juice production, to have a bacteria free
product, and hot filling packaging process
and to guarantee the best possible
conservation in Bag-in-Box®.
Regarding the future of the enterprise,
Juan Pablo Farias Vidal says: “First of all
we hope to develop consumer awareness
of the advantages of our product in Bagin-Box®.
For 2015-2016 we hope that the enterprise grows, with the
exportation of our Bag-in-Box® to China, where it’s shown a particular
interest in our product. We hope to sell near to 500.000 liters a year.
We expect to attract American customers to buy our product, since
the United States is a country with a particular preference for familiar
formats.
And finally step by step we want to be recognized as a consumer
responsible brand, which concerns about the consumer’s health,
offering a 100% natural product with no sugar added, no additional
colorants or flavor additives.”
Story
Obuoliu Namai products
Obuoliu Namai, the
Lithuanian apple juice
In Lithuania, just like in Poland (see page
2-3), the tradition of consuming apple
juice is very old. Before, people were
processing fruits from their gardens in
their kitchens, and they were filling them
in big 3-liter bottles with wide neck.
Younger generations do not want to
heat and press the fruits themselves;
they don’t have the equipment nor the
know-how anymore.
H
owever, they are still keen on the fresh apple juice
and continue to buy it, already pasteurized, filtered
and filled. If it’s packed in Bag-in-Box®, there is a big
chance it comes from Obuoliu Namai, the biggest
Bag-in-Box® distributor and filler for apple juice in Lithuania.
Obuoliu Namai, based in Kaunas, has been founded 5 years ago
by two friends and since then continues to grow significantly,
building its own press and filling stations and equipping 80
other smaller producers and fillers. Today, Obuoliu has 4
mobile stations, built on big 12,5m trucks, and one stationary
in Kaunas. In fact, Bag-in-Box® and Pouch-Up® are the perfect
packaging solutions for mobile filling station, lacking space.
The Pouch-Up® is even more convenient, because it doesn’t
get damaged during rainy days and eliminates one step (the
box) of the process.
In addition to the filling service, they also buy apples from
Lithuania and Poland and produce their own brand of apple
juice. This 3L BIBs are sold in supermarkets in Lithuania and
some other countries, with the objective to sell everywhere in
Europe or even further.
Obuoliu Namai is one of the rare apple juice companies having
the BRC certificate, opening the retail markets in western
Europe, as well as Organic certificate.
JUNE 2015
5
Tech
Apple juice
microbiology
Growth and metabolic activities of organisms may cause spoilage and foodborne
illness. Let’s see how to prevent it and
thus preserve the apple juice quality.
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE MICROBIAL
GROWTH
To determine which microbes grow in
particular food and at what rate, we
have to take into account both intrinsic
and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors,
it means conditions naturally present
in food include, among others, pH,
nutritional richness and moisture. Moist,
nutritionally rich, pH neutral (low acid)
foods with few antimicrobial chemicals
encourage microbes to multiply rapidly
in. Low pH allows yeasts and molds to
become dominant; on the other hand,
higher pH allows bacteria to become
dominant. Beverages are often classified
as high acid (pH < 4.6) and low acid (pH
> 4.6). Apple juice is considered as high
acid and ranges generally in pH from 3.0
to 4.5, as different types of apples have
different pH levels, but most apple juice
has a pH < 4. Although yeasts and molds
can often endure pH levels as low as 1.5,
most bacteria do not survive for long
when pH levels are under 4.
Environmental conditions, termed
extrinsic factors, include storage
temperature and atmosphere. Many
(but not all) microbes multiply rapidly in
warm, oxygen-rich environments.
FOOD SPOILAGE
Food spoilage encompasses any
undesirable change in food, even though
it is not necessarily harmful to health.
Bacteria, yeasts and molds are the major
causes of food spoilage, but it can also
be a result of the action of enzymes
found inherently in plant or animal
tissues (involved in the decomposition
of various food components), chemical
reactions (for example oxidation) or the
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JUNE 2015
not subject to pasteurisation: E. coli
O157:H7, Cryptosporidium parvum and
Salmonella.
presence of vermin.
Spoiled food is to be considered unsafe if
enough human pathogens (or its toxins)
are present to represent a health risk.
Some of the dangerous microorganisms
have been also found in apple juice
However, the illness can result from
consumption of a toxin produced by
organisms growing in the food product
and not only the micro-organisms
themselves. Therefore, in the case of
apple juice, toxins may not be eliminated
by pasteurisation (example: Patulin) and
must be prevented by excluding spoiled
fallen fruit from the harvest as well as
culling damaged apples.
APPLE JUICE PRESERVATION
In order to reduce number of spoilage
organisms in the apple juice, the most
suitable process is pasteurisation, which
is in fact the heating under controlled
conditions at high temperatures.
Its effectiveness depends primarily of the duration and
temperature of pasteurisation relative to certain specific
species, present in definable quantities (load).
However, the process can be improved by adding a filtration
step before pasteurisation. It can tremendously reduce the
load and allow pasteurisation to be more effective in less time
and/or at lower temperatures.
In addition to physical agents (heat, cold and gamma radiation
in the case of aseptic BIB bags) and mechanical removal
(filtration), chemicals (such as potassium sorbate) can also
eliminate or inhibit microbes from growing.
Another factor to follow closely is the oxygen. In fruit juices, it
is one of the causes of colour deterioration, losses of vitamin
C and proliferation of heat resistant mould.
The colour deterioration is in fact the enzymatic browning
by polyphenoloxidase (PPO) and may be prevented by the
deaeration of the juice prior to pasteurisation. The losses
of vitamin C can be also minimized by reducing Dissolved
Oxygen (DO) levels before filling as well as Total Package
Oxygen (TPO) after filling. Finally, minimizing oxygen can also
reduce the action of heat resistant moulds that may survive
pasteurisation and produce mycotoxins in juice packages
during storage and distribution.
FIND THE RIGHT EXPERTISE
Some understanding of basic food microbiology is necessary
to understand the microbiological risks associated with apple
juice and the technologies available to lower this risk. It is
important for the filling centre to consult with a competent
food technologist when defining good practices appropriate
to the specific apple juice filled and conditions prevailing at the
filling centre.
Apple Juice Shelf Life: Goals & Key Parameters
The apple juice shelf life is
the length of time before
the juice is considered unsuitable for consumption.
It is the interval between
the filling of the BIB and
the last glass consumed.
The goal for retailers and fillers is
generally to reach or exceed a target
(example : 9 months) while minimizing
variance - rather than to maximize
shelf life since going beyond market
requirements has no practical benefits
and only adds to costs.
So how long can a BIB apple juice hold
up? This depends upon the changes
that occur in the juice (taste, color, etc.)
and the judgment that these changes
are unacceptable. The judgment of
a BIB apple juice will be more severe
if several conditions must be met to
“pass” the test (for example: Vitamin C >
xmg/l and taste and color acceptable), if
professional tasters are used rather than
typical consumers or if it is compared
to the same apple juice in a glass bottle
not already suffered many oxidative
reactions. A apple juice that is oxidized
or produced with rotten apples is
permanently damaged!
2) Adding preservatives when
acceptable.
3) Proper final filtration and filling line
sterility. Apple juice BIB shelf-life can be
greatly decreased by inadequate final
filtration or lack of sterility during the
filling operation. It helps to have apples
that have a small microbiological load to
begin with!
4) Minimizing oxygen introduced during
filling.
with a screw-cap.
It is possible to push forward the limits
of shelf life by:
1) Selecting certain types of juice. On
the average, BIB apple juice will have a
longer shelf life if they have high acidity
(low pH), low level of initial dissolved
oxygen before bottling and have
5) Selecting package with low gas
permeability.
6) Using active packaging.
7) Minimizing damage to the barrier film.
Damage to the BIB package, particularly
to the barrier film, will shorten shelf-life.
8) Minimizing storage temperatures.
High storage temperatures are the
mortal enemy of BIB apple juice!
JUNE 2015
7
Apple juice
in Pouches
With 1.5 billion liters consumed in the
European Union in 2013, apple juice accounts
for 15% of the market and arrives in 3rd
position after the orange juice and mixed
flavors.
I
n some countries such as Germany,
Czech Republic or Denmark, it
holds even the second position
with a market share of up to 30%
The consumers are looking for pure
juice without additives and providing
nutritional benefits. They are willing to
pay a little more for a premium juice,
although the package they buy would
be smaller. The flexible packaging
Pouch-Up® meets these consumer
Smurfit Kappa Bag-in-Box Argentina
Baguin
Calle 14 Nº 359 Parque Industrial Pilar
(B1629MXA ) Pilar, Buenos Aires
Tel: + 54 (230) 449 9797/798/799/000
expectations and continues its strong
growth mainly in the countries of
Eastern and Northern Europe. Hot
filled, the apple juice is 100% natural
without preservatives while remaining
protected from oxygen and preserves all
its organoleptic qualities. The PouchUp® also displays a very low carbon
footprint, which is interesting especially
for organic-minded juice consumers.
It is proposed in 3 generic designs
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JUIN 2015
The Pouch-Up® develops also in regards
to sales channels - when starting, the
juices in Pouch-Up® were sold directly
by the customer - at his facility, in
local markets or shops. Today, it is also
introduced in strong supermarket chains
such as Delhaize and Carrefour.
The first feedback shows that the
consumer immediately found the
benefits of this packaging: it is easy to
carry and use, unbrakeable, compact,
lightweight and keeps the juice fresh for
a long time.
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smurfitkappa.es/baginbox
8
to enable customers to open the
market with a small batch and test the
consumer’s reaction. As a sign of good
acceptance, our clients increasingly go
for their customized design and develop
their product range with new, original
flavours: apple/strawberry, apple/beet,
apple/ginger and so on.
Initially proposed in one size of 3L, the
range has now expanded to new 1.5L
and 1.75L sizes.