Cold facts

EL EJIDO-based La Union Corp will help La Palma banana growers by freezing fruit damaged by ash from the volcano.

They are using a new technique to freeze bananas for as long as necessary without affecting their flavour or nutrients, revealed the ASPROCAN banana producers’ association.

The joint initiative hopes to salvage as much of the La Palma crop as possible and prevent the unnecessary waste of a product which is in perfect condition but, owing to EU regulations, cannot be marketed because its skin is blemished.

The damaged fruit will be frozen at the Almeria plant where it can later be cut and packaged, ready for donation to food banks throughout Spain.

Ten thousand La Palma families depend on banana-growing and they are currently sustaining ever-increasing losses, explained ASPOCAN president Domingo Martin Ortega

“We are working on several options to save the largest possible volume of La Palma fruit,” Ortega said.

“This technique could be one of them but it also has the potential to become an interesting long-term procedure.”