Jean-Pierre Landes, CEO of Agriviva, presents his new fruit juice decontamination machine. Mickaël Deneux / deneux@lalettrem.net> We want to increase our workforce to 35 people and reach a turnover of €4 million by the end of 2022. Jean-Pierre Landes, the CEO of Agriviva (packaging of ready-to-prepare fruit and vegetables, €1.8 million turnover, fifteen employees) is ambitious for the growth of his company. As a member of the food processing cluster of the Montpellier General Interest Market (Min), the company has set out to conquer the fruit juice market. The company is marketing two new ranges of fruit juices from December, one in supermarkets and hypermarkets, the other for specialised organic channels. For the past two weeks, Agriviva has been operating a machine in its 1,000 m2 warehouse that uses ultraviolet decontamination technology developed by the Orléans-based start-up BioSafeLight (see box). In total, the Hérault-based company has invested €200k in this new innovation. This machine has a production capacity of 1,500 litres per day.
> Second machine in December
> A second machine will go into production in December, using the same decontamination process for fruit, vegetables and salads. Agriviva is planning to launch a new range of trays of fruit salads and raw vegetables, called "Atelier fraicheur". It will offer five to six references, both for supermarkets and for the specialised organic circuit. In total, the company hopes to triple its production capacity to nearly nine tonnes of fruit and vegetables processed per day, 70% of which will be regional products and 33% organic.
> Since 2018, the Montpellier cooperative has been using a technology using ultraviolet light, developed by the Orléans-based start-up BioSafeLight. The innovation developed is an alternative to heat treatments such as pasteurisation. Jean-Pierre Landes sees a double advantage: "For fruit juices, the technology makes it possible to extend the use-by dates from three to twenty-eight days. Without altering the quality of the fibres, enzymes and vitamins in our products. Designed to decontaminate fresh juice, milk, sugar syrups and iced teas, the technology also relies on the combination of UV-C and turbulence in turbid or opaque liquids.
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