Greenfood is on track to acquire a minority stake in Dutch fruit and vegetable supplier Jaguar. With the acquisition, Greenfood is increasing its presence in global growing regions, while both companies will increase their joint purchasing power in the fresh food market.

Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Greenfood is one of northern Europe’s largest players in healthy convenience food based on fruit and vegetables. The group includes the Fresh Produce business area, a supplier of fruit and vegetables in the Scandinavian market.

“This makes us an even stronger player in fruit and vegetables, with the potential to improve our customer offering and further increase quality,” says Ted Stenshed, CEO of the Fresh Produce business area at Greenfood.

“We get access to the overseas countries wher Jaguar has a strong foothold, while our customers get access to the market’s widest range, strengthened quality and access to more global growers,” he explains.

Greenfood is buying a stake in the large European fruit and vegetable supplier, Jaguar.Increased focus on supply chain sustainability
Jaguar has extensive experience buying, importing and selling fresh produce and has offices in some of the world’s most important fruit and vegetable growing countries, such as South Africa, China, Peru, Egypt and the Netherlands.

Jaguar has purchasing offices in China, South Africa, Peru and Egypt. 

Each office has buyers and specialists in quality and sustainability, which provides Jaguar with better insights into growers’ activities, making it easier to promote sustainable agriculture in the supply chain, streamline water management, work for improved working conditions and more sustainable farming practices, the company says. 

“Greenfood and Jaguar both have ambitious sustainability goals and a strong will to act sustainably, both in their operations and in the entire supply chain,” adds Kees Rijnhout, Jaguar’s CEO. 

“This means that we have good conditions for creating solutions that match customers’ demands for sustainability and transparency.”

Broader fruit and vegetable applications
This acquisition comes amid a flurry of activity focused on fruit and vegetable use in food and beverage applications. 

According to Innova Market Insights data, there has been a 4 percent average annual growth (2016 to 2020) in the number of F&B launches tracked with fruit and vegetable ingredients.

Alongside that, the global focus on holistic health is driving demand for functional flavor ingredients and flavors that symbolize well-being, which often means sourcing of natural ingredients like fruit and vegetables. 

Because fresh produce is such a key contributor to healthy nutrition, they were already increasing in demand, but got another boost because of the COVID-19 pandemic as consumer desire for immunity-boosting ingredients took hold.