Blog

Uncategorized

Turmoil in the EU over health claims

britishseabuckthorn

The focus here at British Sea buckthorn often revolves around the question what is sea buckthorn. There are many websites that provide information on phtyochemical content and potential benefits, but we all know that when it comes to selling product regulations require benefit claims to be substantiated by scientific evidence.

The EU evidence review body has really struggled to provide any positive judgements on botanical sourced claims. The subject becomes clouded by natural biochemical complexity and regulatory requirement to meet highly defined clinical trial results.

It has been an interesting week therefore when it was reported that a court in Italy had thrown out an Italian Competition Authority ruling against a company making claims on fermented extract of papaya. The ruling had followed  EU Nutrition and Health Claim directive legislative guidance, but the court ruling is said to effectively voided the Health Claims regs in Italy – at least for a while.

There has also been an interesting turn in the novel food regulations accepting SME’s will not be charged for making bringing a novel food through the regulatory process.. Add to that the statement today that the EU intends to deliver rulings on nutritional profiling and botanicals in 2016, which was supposed to be completed in 2009.

There is then the discussion at the European Food Safety Agency that decision has to be more open. Science is about challenging peers; about scepticism; about  finding the nearest approximation of the truth. The new head of EFSA talks of developing a process of structured open data, allowing IP to be released through a patent style fee paid system. Call me an optimist, but coming from an SME perspective when funding R&D is challenging, the potential that regulators may become seen as more transparent and able to work with innovators not obstruct them can only be good news.

Sea buckthorn is a multi functional botanical facilitated by a highly complex soup of biochemicals. There is a wealth of research that pushes and prods at creating an understanding of the methodology and chemical pathways that may be associated with benefits that have been emerged from practical use.

As someone that wants to bring sea buckthorn to market and recognises some of these practical outcomes from years of personal use, it is frustrating not to have definitive clinical trials that have swept that EFSA with accredited claims. It is not surprising however with botanicals remaining in limbo with EFSA that funding clinical trials does not find favour with investors. Again as an optimist, and working within regulations I am sure its wider use will develop as more people try and discover its potential for themselves.

Uncategorized

European Superfruit flying the flag

britishseabuckthorn

I am still in awe of Mathew, British Sea Buckthorn co-director completing his Iron man challenge. 3.8km sea swim; 180km cycle ride over the mountains of Mallorca followed by a full marathon. Being fit and enough practice was only part of his game – it also executed a great plan. A plan to conserve and use energy to make it through in under the 16 hours allocated. It is inspirational.

As British Sea buckthorn rolls onto another R&D year it also rolls into a new plan. Harvest 2015 has defined how we will harvest in the future and improve efficiency. The plan for this winter will also see us working with new companies promoting sea buckthorn in the UK as a superfruit.

Working with others to promote your product is about developing market awareness. The VW issues that broke last week show that brands are not always as shiny as they seem. Consumer trust is the holy grail for all companies. Tarnish it, and it can take years to remove the blemish. But transgressions are human errors. Consumers look for perfection, and perfection we should deliver, but mistakes will happen. They are the learning curve that creates quality and defines brands.

Superfruit was a term developed in 2005 to describe a natural product with exceptional qualities. It was abused by some in making health benefit claims that could not be substantiated. One of the results was the EU Nutrition and health Claim regulations. Laws to protect the consumer and to guide the manufacturer.

Two weeks ago at a Growth Accelerator masterclass my presentation on sea buckthorn explained the nutritional power of the fruit with all its bioactive compounds. One of the audience cut through all my detail and stated – so its a superfruit. Simplicity returns. It was not the term superfruit that was discredited back in the mid 2000s, it was the actions that tarnished it.

Back in 2012 a Julian Mellentine report on innovative functional food products stated the need for clarity; backed by authority and defining difference.  Our plan in 2015/16 will be to see sea buckthorn in the UK market as European superfruit. The reaction from companies at the LUNCH 2015 exhibition  last Friday proved there is interest and demand. So with Iron Man resolve this will be a classic development year.

Uncategorized

Iron Man- a great sea buckthorn challenge

britishseabuckthorn

Harvest has now come to an end and a lot has been learnt. the biggest challenge though this week is not with the sea buckthorn but for Mathew who is at this moment six hours into his Iron man challenge in Mallorca. He has finished his 3.8km sea swim in 1 hour 17min which is impressive as the first of the pros finished in 48 mins. With a mountain to climb on his cycle of over 100km, then followed by a marathon his target is to finish within the 16 hour course time limit – coming in a 11pm tonight. His progress can be found under Mathew Swain on the Iron Man Mallorca website – ironman.com..

With challenges like iron man, sea buckthorn seems easy.

This week’s highlight has been at the “Lunch” exhibition in London. Without exception all those that tried our fresh sea buckthorn berries really liked them. I also took a new potential product – apple infused dried berries which went down very well in the bakery and energy bar sector. So with harvest 2015 finished this has made a great start for the next year and some partners to work with.

The day was crowned by coming home and collecting the mechanics of a blast freezer for next harvest. Hardly used and the chance to go next week to gain the materials to build a cold store from one being dismantled. So the year is looking good.

Uncategorized

The Power of nature

britishseabuckthorn

Our sea buckthorn harvest is coming to an end with the last few plants of Askola being cut over the next two or three days. The german plants have yielded phenomenally – over ten kilos. This is  even more remarkable as the process has left the branches necessary for next year still laden with berries.

This plantation is made up of the first planting back in 2009, so these are now maturing to peak yield. Remarkably, they also receive no fertiliser, no irrigation, and a minimum of management except for a good prune in the winter.

This minimum management is on purpose to see how the plants perform under this regime. The one marked issue is the difference between the strong growers and the weak plants. i can only put this down to the potential frankia activity in the soil.

The great advantage with sea buckthorn is the potential of the frankia nodules on the roots to source and trap the nitrogen that the plant needs. Judging by the yields this year when this activity is successful it requires no further intervention. It is marked however that there are occasional plants that still yield heavily but the leaves are weak and discoloured. Consequently the berries are small and virtually unharvestable.

The conundrum is whether to provide fertiliser in order to bring all plants up to a standard or not. Providing nitrogen in whatever form will reduce the capacity of the frankia to operate effectively. Alternatively those plants that are weak I will identify and some I will spray with a solution of soil from the roots of alder trees – which also affiliate with sea buckthorn. This may provide sufficient frankia in the soil to rejuvenate these weak plants. A second group i will mulch deeply with compost and provide compost tea as i do with the Siberian plants. A third group will be left alone.

I will have to wait for another year for the results – but that is farming.

Uncategorized

Harvest systems – an absolute priority.

britishseabuckthorn

Back in January an action plan came together of priority projects that would help to develop the sea buckthorn farming project at Devereux farm. Harvesting has always been seen as a major barrier to growing sea buckthorn. There are options open to the larger growers, such as the Kranneman sea buckthorn harvesting system. This is a self propelled machine that cuts the branches off the top of the plants at approximately one metre off the ground. Its work rate is actually governed not by its rate of travel but by the processing system that it feeds.

Going to see the Kraneman in operation and understanding the whole german harvesting and processing method was identified as a key objective for 2015. Reports from Scandinavia had already suggested that their sea buckthorn harvest was late due to a cold spring. The harvest in Germany is also late. But for the farm that runs the harvester that we wanted to go and see, their reason was a very dry spring and summer.( My UK sea buckthorn has also behaved unpredictably as the Sirola that I had expected ripening in July, was not harvested until the first three weeks of August).

It was this week therefore that Matt and I had the opportunity to go to see the full harvesting operation.

The farm is located an hour and a half drive south of Berlin. Its operations are undertaken on a scale which makes Devereux farm pale into insignificance. One field being twice the size of our arable enterprise. Grain stores with capacity for 10s of thousands of tons. A diary herd of 600 cows. But it was the sea buckthorn that we went to see.

The harvester is as impressive as it sounds but as an integral part of a system it is the processing that is of real interest. A five person team run a system that sees the cut branches sorted and clipped into size on a conveyor that enters a nitrogen freezing tunnel probably of some 9m in length. The branches emerge with berries crisply frozen and branches frosted. A vibrating bed is raked across by rotating drums fitted with spine rods that pull the branches across the bed, shattering the berries from the wood and pulling the fruitless branches away to a waste bin.

The berries, freed from the branch still retain clumps of twig and leaf. A series of sieves start the process of removing this trash, before the berries are conveyed up to a cyclon extractor fan. This sucks the leaf away from the berries diverting the fruit finally up on the final conveyor into a 300kg bin.  The whole system capable of processing 2.5 tons of berries a day.

The process is as impressive as it sounds but as with all farming the weakness in the system is still down to reliance on the weather for berry quality.

Poor rainfall had resulted in small berries which also gripped the branches tightly despite the freezing. In consequence the waste branches still carries away berries. Clumps of berries, knocked off their host branch managed to work their way through each part of the process without breaking up. The result being a bin that had more leaf in it than clearly would be normal.

Quality is a factor we all aspire too and markets demand. In this case the next stage for these berries will be to be washed. All unwanted leaf and wood waste removed as part of the preparation for pulping in the juice or puree making process. Blending of varieties allows balancing of quality so that the consumer is presented with product of a standard type.

So returning to the UK I look at the options for a  small scale sea buckthorn growing operation. In particular i relate to the issue that it takes six years for these plants to reach peak yield. If you have little or no income for capital investment in harvesting technology then the options have to look to one aim – A quality sample of large, trash free berries. Quality also means safe, so any process has to be designed to be clean and without risk of contamination, following through the principles of HACCP ( Hazard Analysis Critical Control points). This is of no real interest to the consumer who expects their end product to be of standard quality. Growers operate within the natural environment, not an asceptic one. It is essential that buyers in the supply chain are confident that production processes, including harvesting minimises risks of contamination.

Hand harvesting I have rejected as being very difficult to achieve this quality standard. The slow pace of development of the sea buckthorn plant gives time to understand the issues to both comply with HACCP and deliver quality. Small scale allows for greater concentration of effort to guarantee quality. Speed of process is important so that fruit is harvested at optimum ripeness.The trip to Germany indicates the critical need to balance harvesting capacity against facilities to remove berries from the branches. 2015 is presenting the learning issues to perfect a cut and freezing process with a HACCP compliance on an affordable small scale. 2016 will be an economically significant harvest as the whole plantation matures – but it will be the first with the right facility for the right product for the right market.

Uncategorized

Does the customer care about who owns brands?

britishseabuckthorn

What makes people buy? In our consumer world the concentration of income and investment at the top end of the supply chain drives the influences that make those split second choices when a product falls off the shelf into a shopping basket. Supermarkets pride themselves in choice. Choice that offers multiples of similar products flying the flags of different brands. Price is but one issue. This week I was intrigued as to the quality of Tesco economy brand corn flakes. A staple product, priced at a third the cost of the Tesco own brand – which in itself is half the price of a well known brand.

The quality was still good. The packaging as expected did what it needed to do. The price was eye wateringly low. A great piece of value for money for the consumer.

I reflected on this as I was reading this morning a  blog by Janina – Too Strong coffee, exposing the recent merger of two global super coffee roasters. The story is all too familiar. The largest roaster,- Nestles, having its number one position in the world challenged by the marriage of no 2 and 3.

Does any of this matter to the end consumer?

It could be a good deal, bringing greater resources and buying power to favourite brands maybe providing improved flavour, quality or even price. It could also come at a cost as that greater buying power may not be to the advantage of coffee bean growers, creating a position similar to that of UK milk producers. But then coffee is not a supermarket loss leader. Coffee is a premium product characterised by source; taste; strength and brand. It also has achieved a successful on-the-go presence on the High street where so many traditional retail offerings have failed. Its branding secures its authenticity; its desirability and encompasses its quality into a value.

I mused over this while pouring over the multitude of brands of sea buckthorn oil capsules that now appear on Amazon and Ebay.

What is it that drives consumer preference of one brand over another ? It is said that it takes seconds for a consumer to make a product choice in a supermarket. Loyalty to brands provides preference but what drives the decision of a new customer? Price is a forked stick – too low might indicate poor quality; too high questions value for money. First impression on packaging may have a greater impact on a retail shelf, but on a virtual sales site the gloss provides less impact.

Of course the difference between a retail shelf and an internet site is that with the former there is exposure to new customers. Internet sales are serving a mature market. These customers have probably already established brand loyalty, so influencing a change of heart requires a radical offering. Brands in the sea buckthorn capsule market differ in source of product; size of capsule; quality of capsule; pure or mixture of oils. Pack sizes seem to grow and grow,  offering convenience but discounts for volume are not as obvious as one might assume. Brands portray differing backgrounds – healthcare multi product distributors to dedicated specialists. The issue that comes across is how one views the actual product – is it like my pack of economy cornflakes and a product you can accept as always of a standard quality, regardless of price? Or is it like coffee, a product that comes with the guarantees that one associates with a brand you trust but you are prepared to pay a premium for?

There are a myriad of competing supplements on the market, each with a specific offering. Some come  in with fashion, some have been there for generations. The issue has to be with all of them that consumers that want to take a supplement, care about their health. In this there lies a producer responsibility to ensure that the product the customer buys is of the quality that delivers what the customer wants. So this is not just about price – my economy packet of cornflakes being sold at such a low price, may be good value for money, but there can be no guarantees on quality. It is more about that branding – if quality is essential then its traceability is important; its functionality is important; its supply chain must be transparent.

So it is important to the consumer who runs brands and delivers the products they buy.

Uncategorized

Focusing on 2016 already – bird control and shelf life to ensure our golden berries get to market

britishseabuckthorn

Jackdaws on sea buckthorn at Devereux Farm Jackdaw sbt 2

As each year goes by experience ticks a few more boxes. This morning, over breakfast we were talking about how harvest was going and what plans there were for 2015/16. I made a statement – there’s no problem that we cannot solve, and thinking back on it I think that is credible. The above photographs have been this year’s problem – forgive the fact that they are dated 2008. The camera was borrowed and I did not reset the date.

This year’s major issue has been finally discovering what has been stealing the Siberian berries. All year I have looked with suspicion at the flock of jackdaws that come and go. They are a large bird and young sea buckthorn plants are not very sturdy, so very unscientifically I had persuaded myself that these could not be my thieves. Starting in May i had put out scare crows; strings of CD discs; poles with fluttering hologram tape; florescent jackets on frames; a huge kite. The field next to the sea buckthorn is a finely cut grass one hectare area used as a model radio controlled flying airstrip. It is used most days, mainly in the afternoon and early evening. There is something on the airstrip that the birds seem to like, so if left alone they accumulate into a flock of between 50 and 100. Once they are settled in a group on the ground, they present the opportunity to use a bird scaring rocket. A firework with an extra loud explosion. Directed so that it goes off right above them, the effect is to scare them – and all those in the immediate area away from the site for two or three days.

In the winter our local environment becomes the home of another resident of siberia – The Brent goose. Flocks of several hundred or even a thousand strong are possible. When the farm had dairy cows the geese would come and graze on the pastures that we kept for the cows spring and summer grazing. It was an acceptance that once the winter turned really cold, by mid- January the geese would be hungry and nothing would deter them from eating the grass down to the roots.

Sweet sea buckthorn berries have the same level of attraction to my jackdaws. As I look at them and judge them to be just coming ripe, so the birds are judging that the berries are just to their taste also. In fact I should employ one of these birds to tell me when it is the best time to harvest my berries.

i had started to convince myself that it was not birds taking the berries as these birds are quite large and would damage the bushes. I had convinced myself that these sweet berries would be a tasty meal for mice. So I borrowed Matt’s camera that has activates on movement. he has used it on tracks and footpaths and photographed deer, and wildlife – as well as passing people who sometimes should not be there. I positioned the camera on a post 4 metres back from a row of latvian plants that had a reasonable covering of berries, straped it to a post and left it for two nights. i expected to see nocturnal movement of rodents up and down the plant stem. But no – no rodent – it was, and always had been the birds.

So next year the plan changes.

I now know the order in which my varieties ripen. I also know how quickly they can change from being unattractive to birds – to very attractive. 10 days off picking, I will net the plants, just over the rows that are coming ripe. Some years ago, Devereux farm used to host an International Scout Jamboree. It took over 180 acres of land; was every four years from 1996 to 2008; was attended by 5500 scouts staying for a week from up to 33 countries and accomodated 10,000 people on site on a daily basis. When it came to an end, one of the waste items left over was a huge pile of old water pipe. Cut to length and pushed onto metal stakes it will make ideal hoops to hold netting over the plants. This sounds like a sizable job, but the target market for these berries will be London as fresh berries so there will be sufficient value in them to justify the work.

This year has also shown that these sweet berries are a different fruit to the other European varieties at Devereux farm. The german varieties I expect to last three weeks to a month in a fridge as fresh berries without signs of deterioration. These sweet Siberian varieties will start to deteriorate at between 6 to 8 days so they need to be marketed as one would other soft fruit. It does stand to reason that the higher acid content in german varieties will control fungal growth. I have to say that the Siberian berries were not washed and were put into the fridge straight from the field.

To ensure quality I see picking fresh berries as needing some control measures in the field, particularly with respect to removing juice from damaged/split berries. I have been using a solid gel ice pack under the picking container used in the field. I think this can be improved by using two or even three gel bags frozen to mould around the bottom of the collection bowl. This will maintain a cold air environment within the bowl to reduce the temperature of the berry rapidly after picking. It should reduce any microbial activity to a minimum. Anything that helps to improve shelf life in these very special berries needs to be a real focus.

Uncategorized

Harvesting – manual but it is still progress

britishseabuckthorn

This morning the last of the german variety sirola was cut at Devereux farm. They came ripe at the end of July and have been harvested since August 2nd. I was expecting them to be harvested in July but every season is different, and I believe that in Scandinavia their harvest is going to be late due to a cold summer. The plants have yielded well and have large berries mainly towards the top of the plant, with smaller fruit hidden in the middle and bottom of the plant.

The whole family have tried hand picking but that resulted in a long winded process of less than a kilo in an hour. We then tried the wire scrapers – just on the mid section of branches in order to reduce leaf contamination in the berries. The result was a messy pile of part broken berry mixed with a lot of juice. On freezing this forms a solid lump. I bought some thick polythene bags for storage this year but even these became brittle in the freezing process. They were pierced by the edges of the frozen lumps of berries when I tried to break them up to have bags of free flowing berries.

Last year we picked and scraped our berries. This year is the first attempt at cut and freeze. As a small farm unit the object is to find affordable low cost equipment. I had been told to find freezing capacity that could go to -30 deg C. This is a commercial capability and the estimate I have had to install the right “Rolls Royce” facility would be £14,500.

With only a small crop this year, spending this amount is not justified so I have some domestic freezers. The result is practical on a small scale, but there are some issues.

With experience from picking last year of ending up with a lot of leaf in the fruit, I am cutting branches about 30cm long and then trimming the leaf off the stem. In order to keep them in good condition, they are then put into an insulated box containing 4 large freezer packs. The trimmed branchlets are then about 15cm long. These are then put into a deep vegetable storage box with a mesh floor. These will stack within the freezer.

When cutting I am looking to only take half the berries choosing to cut branches that reduce the height and girth of the bush. Taking out the top also reveals small clumps and clusters of berries on short branches with little or no leaf. These come off as well. The process keeps the berries in good condition and allows the removal of unripe, damaged or over ripe berries as well as dead leaf or other unwanted trash. The end result leaves a lot of berries, but those are on branches which will form next years crop and the cutting process will ignite new growth from the centre of the bush for future harvests.

The freezing process allows berries to be knocked off the branches easily. But as speed is the issue in order to make harvesting viable, the small clumps and clusters of berries tend to fall straight into the collecting bin when the berries are being removed from branches. So I am now splitting the field collection box into two so the small branches go into a separate section and can be frozen away from the larger branches. These small clumps will be de-berried in a separation box with a finer mesh to hold onto the smaller stems of wood.

Anyone who farms sea buckthorn commercially will think this in-efficient and long winded, but the learning curve is important and until this crop earns me sufficient return to buy into harvesting/processing machinery – this is the way it has to be done.

It is actually progress and there will be clean bags of berries at the end of the harvest.