FOOD INDUSTRY Ready-to-eat Pineapple in 15 Seconds By Violeta Montes de Oca ome supermarkets o昀昀er the option of having pineapple cleaned, freshly cut, and ready to NoNo take home. HHasassslele People can choose whether they want it whole, 15 seconds is the in chunks or sliced. time it takes Isla to SWho is catering to this request? A machine in process a pineapple. the Fresh Produce department. Giant Eagle and Gulf Coast Market are examples of brands 4 ready-to-eat that have invested in this tool. On their 昀椀rst day, on average, pineapple options: they sold 45 pineapples. chunks, sticks, cored Pineapple is a delicious fruit but very complicated to cut. slices, or whole without When displayed in refrigerators at the end of the day, it does peel and core. not look fresh because the juice is visible in the container and has to be thrown 3 sizes of Isla away, Juan Pablo Aldana, pineapple: 9-10, 7-8, Zummo's U.S. Director of and 5-6 gauge. Business Development, told Abasto. Isla is the machine that helps sell more pineapples SHINES BY in grocery stores. Aldana DESIGN Isla was launched in 2022 and two years HHoow iw it wt woorrkkss later won the IF Design Award in the Product Isla is a user-friendly, easy, added that it Design discipline, Retail and intuitive machine can be right on category. designed to be operated the 昀氀oor, inside the Fresh 吀栀e IF Design Award is one of the most prestigious design by the consumer or a Produce department, or awards in the world, organized since 1954 in Germany. By 2024, person from the fruit and where ready-to-eat foods the year Isla won her award, there were 10,800 entries from 72 vegetable department are. 吀栀e latter, he said, countries. after Zummo training. means labor savings. The investment in 1. Place a plastic container stocking it in the store for the fruit. recovered within a few months, as pineapple 2. Place a pineapple on the sales surpassed top door, with the crown of expectations. the fruit facing up. Connecting the machine to an 3. Select how you want to application on the cell receive the pineapple. phone makes it possible to monitor in which store 4. Take out the container and season it works best. with the fruit and put a lid on it. 5522 JJUULLYY//AAUUGGUUSST 2T 200224 4 AABBAASSTOTO..CCOOMM