The European Association of Fruit and Vegetable Processors (PROFEL) made a number of decisions, floated proposals and established dates for future meetings during its recent General Assembly held in Helsinki, Finland. During the meeting, its membership grew by two following the move to admit Herk-de-Stad, Belgium-based Dirafrost, and conditionally accept the application of Krajowe, the Polish association of fruit and vegetable processors.
Futhermore, it was decided to formalize a frozen fruit group under the Fruit Commission within PROFEL. For the past year this contingent has been functioning as an ad-hoc working group.
Among the proposals offered was one to create a second vice president position so that President Jean-Bernard Bonduelle (who will serve through June of 2015) and his successors may benefit by receiving direct advice from knowledgeable professionals in both the fruit and vegetable sectors. As such, M. Mayntz of German fruit preserves company Göbber was nominated along with W. Scheefhals of the Dutch vegetable, potato and fruit canning company Coroos Conserven BV.
It was decided that the next president of PROFEL should come from the fruit industry, since the position has been held by a vegetable sector executive for the past four years. Nominated for the top post was M. Mayntz of Göbber, while those tapped for vice presidential slots were J. Perez Ruiz of Helios (Fruit), Spain, and Jean-Bernard Bonduelle of Bonduelle S.A., France (Vegetables).
The nominations will be voted on during the next PROFEL Vegetable Conference in Brussels, set for April 23, 2015. The main focus of the session will be food waste issues, and the key message will be “the intrinsic preserving character of the processed vegetables sector.”
It was also determined that the next General Assembly will take place June 11-12 in Paris.
Executive Committee Roster
Meanwhile, Herwig Dejonghe of Gent, Belgium-headquartered Greenyard Foods was unanimously approved as chairman of the Frozen Vegetable Executive Committee through the autumn of 2014. Pieter Kruithof of Venlo, Holland-headquartered Oerlemans Foods will serve as vice chairman at the same time.
Terms of office for other Executive Committee members are as follows:
Canned Vegetables : W. Scheefhals of Coroos, chairman until autumn of 2014; Jean-Bernard of Bonduelle S.A., vice chairman through the spring of 2016; J. Garcia Gomez of Milafruta, Spain, delegate to EXEC through the spring of 2016.
Dehydrated Vegetables: Luc Darbonne of Daregal, France, chairman through the autumn of 2016.
Fruit Preserves: J. Perez Ruiz of Helios, Spain, chairman until the autumn of 2014; J.L. Heymans of Materne Confilux, Belgium, vice chairman through the autumn of 2014; M. Mayntz of Göbber and Rainer Hartman of Schwatauer Werke (both in Germany), delegates to EXEC through the spring of 2016 and autumn of 2016, respectively.
Deciduous Fruits: J. Navarro Salinas of Cofrusa, Spain, chairman until the spring of 2016; C. Apostolou of E.K.E., Greece, vice chairman until the spring of 2016.
More details are available by contacting PROFEL’s office in Brussels: Phone +32 (0)2 761.16.56; Fax +32 (0)2 761.16.99; E-mail: profel@agep.eu; Website: www.profel-europe.org.
