If companies are going to all the effort involved with getting farms certified as fair trade or organic, why let anything go to waste? Through a new line of juices and ciders, New York-based and Argentine-founded Interrupcion aims to use more of its crops while a side effect may be an expansion into new ones. 

"Having been growing biodynamic, fair trade fruits and vegetables throughout Latin America and North America for over a decade, this is a way to capture everything that comes out of the farm," said Interrupcion's vice president of business development, Michela Calabrese.

Speaking with Fresh Fruit Portal at the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Fresh Summit convention last month where the new line was on display, Calabrese said the initiative allowed Interrupcion to have consumer-facing products that could "tell the story of the fruit, the hands and the earth behind it".

"We've been first to market with many fair trade fruits and vegetables, and continue to trailblaze the market in terms of bringing these values to consumers," Calabrese said, 

"We’re bringing out a line of juices. We've been working on a number of biodynamic and fair trade items. The beverage industry is really dynamic right now, and in terms of what works I think functional beverages that consumers know are good for them are going to grow," she said.

The line includes fair trade, organic Cripps Pink apple cider, as well as cold pressed organic juice combinations including beets, apple, ginger, lemon and fennel; carrot, orange, apple, turmeric, celery and lemon; and kale, apple, ginger, cucumber, basil, mint and lime.

"These are very simple combinations that are easy to digest, the cold press HPP process helps the product assimilate into the body and give you a natural boost of phytonutrients and enzymes," she said, adding the items were still in an experimental phase but with easy distribution through existing logistics and retail partners.

"We do have some unique items in our products like the fennel and basil-mint combos, and turmeric is of course extremely popular in our marketplace – the number one product for ayurvedics as of three thousand years ago, so that’s always a winner in my opinion. 

She said one of the most "outrageous" flavors in the line were the single-variety ciders from one of Interrupcion's biodynamic farms in Argentina.

"It is a farm that we have been managing for four years and we’re focused on the Cripps Pink variety because with the high brix and acidity, it creates a part on the palate," she said.

"So it heightens all the sensations – we found that out of all the varieties that we carry it’s the best one to press into a cider. 

"The flavor is outrageous but it’s something that could reach a lot of different consumer bases. We also have the Red Delicious which is geared more towards children because of the flavor, and the Granny Smith which is amazing if you love a Granny Smith, which I do."

The goal is for the mixed juices to become fair trade as well, but of course this is easier in some items more than others.

"Because we have land throughout California, North Carolina, Argentina, Chile, it allows us to get a lot of these items year round; kale, ginger, apple, cucumber," she said.

"Things like fair trade turmeric and fair trade ginger can be challenging to get but we’re working hard to make sure all these products are fairtrade and organic.

"We have a network of farms that we help to convert to fairtrade and organic, and then we also farm our own land that we mostly lease."

She said this was part of a strategy of vertical integration with the ultimate goal of making fair trade supply chains more efficient and thus more accessible and affordable for consumers.

"For us the very core of the reason why we exist is we believe that we can create supply chains that are benefiting the world, the environment, communities," she said.

"We realized 15 years ago we couldn’t just talk about these ideas. We actually needed to build the supply chain so we can give consumers options. 

"In terms of the fairtrade premium, we’re looking towards a world where these types of items are completely affordable for all. We’re obviously not there yet, but scale helps, growing consumer consciousness helps."

On the topic of fair trade apple cider, we asked Michela whether it would be a year-round deal including  Northern Hemisphere fair trade apple production or whether it would be limited to sourcing from Argentina.

"Based on demand we’re going to decide for the following year if we pull from Washington - we’re working on relationships there that we’re growing and the fair trade domestic piece of it needs a bit more development. 

"I don’t know if we’d be able to have fair trade year-round for this coming year."

She said freezing the cider was a potential option as well to provide year-round supply but it had not yet been fully explored.

"Cider freezes really well, so you can basically freeze product and HPP it. We're working to have everything be fresh from product to consumer but as we develop it really depends.

"If we’re getting demand year-round then we’ll pull from Washington this year and then maybe seven months of the year have the product pressed fresh and frozen for the rest of the year."

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