Swiss company Eisberg Group has won the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award 2014 in Berlin, edging ahead of Italy's Aureli Mario and England's Home Harvest Salads in the vote count.

Eisberg Group chief sales officer Lorenzo Pilari told www.freshfruitportal.com the BBQ Grill-Mix built on the company's main business of pre-washed salads, with vegetables prepared in a recyclable aluminum tray and vacuum-wrapped.

"The idea came because we are really close to the customer and we were thinking about what could be easy to use, and in all of our countries in Europe having barbecues is very common," he said.

"Something like this doesn't really exist, so we started with the tray and mixed this idea with the film technology, creating a product with a good shelf life of seven days, to be used in the barbecue or in a traditional oven."

He said the types of mixes varied depending on the market, but the aim was to cover all vegetables.

"We could have only peppers with capers for example in one country because they like this recipe, but Europe is very diverse; the taste is different in Poland or Austria or Romania, so we have different mixes for countries to meet what the customers need."

He said vegetables were mostly sourced from southern Spain, Italy and northern Africa during the winter, while the produce was sourced locally as much as possible during the summer.

"After we have contingency, we are able to buy from South America, from the U.S.A., from distant countries, however one of the problems is shelf life which is not easy to manage."

Eisberg's product won the prize ahead of runner-up Home Harvest Salads' Living Salad range, and Aureli Mario's vegetable crumbs in third place.

www.freshfruitportal.com