A local Berlin company with Thai roots has won the popular vote for this year's Fruit Logistica Innovation Award (FLIA), with PookSpaFoods GmbH taking out the prestigious prize for its toasted coconut chips. 

Founder Kanokporn Holtsch told Fresh Fruit Portal the product concept first came to her in the summer of 2016, incidentally the same year that Spanish product Genuine Coconut won the award.

"I like the coconut and I come from Thailand where it's very popular. I was looking for something healthy to export the European market and coconut chips is not something you see here," she said.

The product is processed in Thailand using coconuts sourced from a range of small farmers.

"We don't use any oil in our coconut chips. It's only baked, it's gluten-free and good for everyone," Holtsch said.

"After the coconut is opened we take the coconut flesh and bring it to the factory for a maximum of two or three hours. That's why when you eat it, from the very first bite you can feel the freshness of the product.

"We buy from different farmers but we control all the quality."

She said the first container was shipped to Europe in January 2017 with a slow expansion since then.

"From that day to now we’ve sold in Portugal, Iceland, Switzerland and parts of Spain, but we’ve started slowly. Also next month we’re going to start with the German supermarket Edeka."

The silver award went to the Adora tomato from Spain's HM Clause, while bronze was awarded to "Scheufelen Grass Paper - Greenliner" from Papierfabrik Scheufelen of Germany. 

www.freshfruitportal.com