Acai Berry The Brazilian Superfruit.



Called by the brazilian native indians as the fruit of life, acai has been grabbing the attention of US healthy foods makers. Industry´s big names such as Naked Juices and Odwalla (Coca-Cola) are already using acai as an ingredient to healthy beverages. According to John Laurino, director of UNIT BRAZIL, acai will be the 'singredient of the decade's, with fast-growing sales both in USA and EU. UNIT BRAZIL is used to export other food ingredients such as instant coffee, honey and specialty chemicals but fruit concentrates products are the ones presenting more opportunities as the consumers both in US and Europe opt for 's8220;healthy,'s8221; 's8220;fashionable's8221; and 's8220;adventurous's8221; foods, says John Laurino. There are no official statistics about the exported volumes of acai but I expect exports of acai to USA to reach approximatelly 6,500 tons in 2006 says the ingredient broker who represents a couple of qualified sources. Acai seems to be a great ingredient as it offers an unique combination of desirable features : a dark purple exciting color, a blueberry-like with chocolate hints flavor, uncomparable contents of antioxidant elements plus the rain forest origin appeal. Besides, acai exporters have been focused on complying to the international buyers´ quality requirements such as HACCP, kosher and organic certifications for the manufactured ingredients. The future of acai is great and whoever steps in the train now will be in good shape whitin few years added John Laurino.





Acai Berry The Brazilian Superfruit.