Berries Plus: Vitamins added to create fortified whole frozen food
They look like berries, smell like berries and taste like berries.
But Radar Farms’ new frozen Fruit PLUS Vitamins are intended to be even better for you than the real thing.
Inventure Foods recently rolled out what it describes as the first-ever fortified whole frozen fruit product under its Rader Farms brand. Rader Farms was established in Lynden, Washington, in 1941 as a family-run farm producing mainly raspberries and blueberries. Now in its third generation, it’s one of the largest berry processors in the Pacific Northwest.
Rader produces a variety of frozen products including TrippleBerry for Costco, other varieties of store-branded frozen fruit, and the Jamba line of make-at-home smoothie kits, among others.
Its new Fruit PLUS Vitamins were a natural extension, said Rader Farms Vice President Brad Rader.
“In addition to applying our experience growing the berries for the product, we actively manage the harvest throughout the year and the berries we use in Fruit Plus Vitamins must be top grade,” Rader said “They must also be harvested, sorted, processed and stored in a way that protects them structurally while locking in the naturally occurring nutrients as quickly as possible.
“It helps that we have more than 70 years of experience processing raspberries, which are perhaps the most delicate berry to successfully harvest.”
Dan Hammer, senior vice president of marketing for Inventure Foods’ frozen division, said Rader Farms’ growing expertise combined with “a deep bench of experienced food manufacturing experts” across Inventure’s other brands helped develop the process that resulted in the new product. Inventure has manufacturing facilities in Arizona, Indiana, Washington, Oregon and Georgia. Others under its umbrella include Boulder Canyon Foods, Jamba, Seattle’s Best Coffee, TGI Fridays, Nathan’s Famous, Vidalia Brands, Poore Brothers, Tato Skins, Willamette Valley Fruit Company, Fresh Frozen and Bob’s Texas Style.
“It is this group that has not only identified a combination of natural … ingredients that provide our vitamin boost, but also the proprietary process in which we must apply these nutrients in order to offer the nutritional benefit … without imparting any discernible flavors,” Hammer said. “I can’t go into too much detail because of the proprietary nature of it other than to say that the nutritional boost is topically applied.
“We had to overcome a number of challenges and ultimately, we borrowed knowhow from every corner of Inventure’s collective R&D and manufacturing expertise.”
One of the key challenges was infusing the vitamins without altering taste, Hammer said.
“The Fruit PLUS Vitamins product does not differ from frozen fruit in form – which is exactly the point,” Hammer explained. “It looks, tastes and very much is identical to our premium frozen berry products.
“However, it is truly groundbreaking as we’ve identified a method to exponentially enhance the vitamin levels without imparting any tastes.”
The additional vitamins are extracted from fruits and vegetables like shiitake mushrooms, cranberries and others, and then get applied to the frozen fruit.
“We knew from the onset that we must be true to the Rader brand, so any additional nutrients must be sourced from real food ingredients,” Hammer said.
The result – exponential increases in vitamins. For example, a traditional one-cup serving of mixed strawberries and blueberries might provide 65 percent of the daily recommended value of Vitamin C and 2 percent of Vitamin A, Hammer said. A single one-cup serving of Fruit PLUS Vitamins offers 125 percent of Vitamin A, 145 percent of Vitamin B1, 145 percent of Vitamin B6, 250 percent of Vitamin C, 175 percent of Vitamin D, 105 percent of Vitamin E and 50 percent of Vitamin K.
“We believe it may be a game changer for the consumer making smoothies at home,” Hammer said.
Diane M. Barrett, fruit and vegetable products specialist in the Department of Food Science & Technology at the University of California, Davis, wasn’t familiar with the new Fruit PLUS Vitamins yet. However, she said, consumers today are gravitating toward healthier foods. Infusing products with vitamins isn’t a new concept, and it holds promise for fresh produce.
“There are other juice or vitamin-infused products on the market already,” she said. “I think about cranberries infused with juice from other fruit, and vitamin water.
“As far as infusing other commodities prior to freezing, fresh-cut or other preservation methods, yes, there are endless possibilities.”
To accommodate the new products, Rader Farms has invested millions and added additional production lines at its Lynden facility. So far, Fruit PLUS Vitamins are offered in two varieties – Strawberries & Blueberries, and a Mixed Berry Blend of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. They’re available in Wegmans, Albertson’s and Sprouts, among others, in select markets.
“We’re looking to grow this line organically versus launching across the country immediately and spreading our resources too thin,” Hammer said. “The groundbreaking nature requires a bit of consumer education, a process that will take some time.”
Suggested retail price is $7.99 for a 21-ounce package.
“We are always looking to bring new, innovative products to market, so we see this as a great positive for the industry and for consumers in general,” Rader said. “We believe it’s an exciting innovation for the frozen fruit aisle.”
Kathy Gibbons, contributing writer
