European agriculture sector is world wide famous for some very unique and special characteristics, like the superior quality of the fruits and vegetables, and the implementation of the strictest quality and food safety criteria during all the production process, offering at the same time to consumers the ability to track any food, feed, or substance destined for consumption through all stages of the supply chain.
On a constant effort to offer to consumers only the highest quality fruits and vegetables , European Union has created a strict legal frame that force European producers to apply the same high food safety and production standards through all the European Union, to ensure that all the European fruits and vegetables are equally tasty, nutrient and quality, keeping in the same time the environment sustainable by using eco-friendly production methods.
In the frame of the above one of the main timeless demands of consumers during the years, was always to find a way to keep fruits and vegetables fresh and nutrient for as long as it was possible.
For that reason, Europeans use to process vegetables and fruits to keep and store them fresh during all year just like the moment they harvested them. And in the European gastronomy processed fruits and vegetables has a prominent position in consumers preferences. Two countries with great gastronomy tradition in processed vegetables and canned fruits and vegetables are Greece and Romania, two countries with great agriculture production in fruits and vegetables.
Consumers prefer processed vegetables and canned fruits because they are high quality fruits and vegetables, that are harvested at their peak and processed just a few hours later, thus fully keeping their nutrients. Some procedures may vary depending on the product but once the fruit or vegetable has been picked and transported to the canning facility it goes through 3 major steps -processing, sealing, heating. This is how we can keep the nature treasures for a long time keeping them in parallel fresh and delicious.
In the frame of the above, EU through the Taste Me program aims to promote and enhance the awareness and information’s about the canned fruits and processed vegetables of the European consumers in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania and Estonia and increase the consumption of those.