Board dumps 70 tonnes of apples

Press, 24 April 1980, Page 6

Board dumps 70 tonnes of apples

Almost 70 tonnes of processing apples have been dumped in Kaiapoi by the Apple and Pear Board, because of a shortage of bulk storage bins. The 'board’s regional manager (Mr P. C. Trevella) said that the apples, which were to have been processed into Freshup fruit juice, had to be dumped to make room for higher grade fruit arriving from growers. The dumped fruit was graded “sound rejects” and most was unfit for human consumption, said Mr Trevella.

Recent , heavy rain in the Nelson area had prevented growers picking their fruit. “When the rain eased all the. fruit arrived at once, putting a lot of strain on the board’s processing cannery at Nelson,” said Mr Trevella. Fruit which was picked late was larger than normal and this compounded the storage problem. The cannery could not accept the fruit from Kaiapoi so it had been dumped on a pig farm. . Mr Trevella said that the

board regretted having to dump the apples, but it had been a matter of priority. If the reject apples had not been dumped there would have been no bins to store top grade fruit, which would have rotted on growers’ properties. There had been no financial loss to the growers because the board had already paid them for the apples. Mr Trevella estimated that the dumping would cost the board $3OOO.

Mr Trevella said he was surprised that some people had criticised the board for dumping the apples “while millions of people are Starving.” , i “The apples were only fit for juice extracting. They would be no good for stewing or eating,” he said. “We are dealing with a perishable commodity and things can, from time to time, get out of kilter. Trailer-loads of bread are dumped every week by bakeries and nobody jumps up and down about that,” Mr Trevella said.