Environment & Energy | Monday 12 June, 2017 2:23 pm |

Global Food Industries part of the Albatha Group has revolutionized the agricultural industry in UAE by developing a huge aqua farm to produce kale, known as one of the most-healthiest superfood on the planet due to its nutritional properties. Once it’s harvested, it is rapidly processed with minimum processing and formed into frozen Aqua Kale portions, which is then frozen to preserve its freshness, increasing shelf life and also keeping its nutritional values at the peak.

Recently, the Ministry of Health and Prevention, had launched the ‘Healthy Restaurant Initiative’ to encourage restaurants to include at least two healthy options in the adult menu and a complete healthy list of food choices for children as part of its strategy to promote a healthy lifestyle in the community. Also diners will very soon be able to verify if a healthy meal offered in an eatery is really healthy when new regulations for restaurants and catering companies are implemented to make sure their nutritional claims are correct.

“Kale can be offered at various restaurants across UAE as a healthy snack to meet the ‘Healthy Restaurant Initiative’ by the government. Aqua kale is made with 100% certified organic nutrient supplements, the major nutrient being from the aquatic water which supports aquatic life and is said to be of high nutritional value for vegetables especially leafy plants and herbs. Due to the highly efficient usage of water with 100% recycling water systems, we maximize every single drop and we produce up to 25% more food with the same water source in comparison with the conventional method. This facility is the first of its kind in the region which is commercially successful and now our approach is more towards establishing a sustainable green ecosystem,” stated Jacek Plewa, General Manager at Global Food Industries.

Global Food Industries emerged victorious over the competition with its Frozen Aqua Kale Portions winning the ‘Best Fruit and Vegetable Innovation’ category during the recently concluded Gulfood exhibition.

Kale, comes from the cabbage family and it is a green leafy vegetable that is not only low in calories, but also high in fiber and has zero fat. One cup of kale has only 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber and 0 grams of fat. Kale contains nearly twice the amount of vitamin K as most of its fellow cruciferous vegetables. Proportionate servings of Fresh AQUA Kale, has more iron than beef, more calcium than milk, and more vitamin C than spinach. Kale has various benefits and can easily be incorporated in one’s daily diet in the form of salad, juices, lubney or kale tea. It helps control diabetes and obesity and also helps in increasing immunity and detoxification.

“This aqua kale is grown on water and the process is 100% organic certified and the product is 100% pesticides free, 100% natural and also has high nutritional and functional properties compared to kale grown on soil. Another fact is that kale grown on soil is not free from pesticides, have very high microbial counts and chances of E Coli too,” added Jacek.

 

“We are pleased to introduce this new concept of growing kale without using soil in UAE to address the health and dietary issues of the people of UAE and the surrounding regions. We are proud to bring Aqua Kale to the market which can be a better source of nutrition for future generations. We aim to preserve and promulgate a healthy system of dietary food supply in the UAE market with the introduction of this superfood,” stated Jacek.

Aqua kale is grown in aquaponic conditions which is an environment friendly method that helps in raising aquatic lives whilst producing better quality kale. Aquaponic is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponic system in a symbiotic environment. It aims to encourage symbiotic partnerships that benefit all organisms within the ecosystem, reducing the impact on local environment. As opposed to regular kale, aqua kale is produced by the usage of advanced technology which minimizes the energy per kg of fresh produce.

Currently the Hotel/Restaurants/café (HORECA) market doesn’t have much of functional healthy juices. With frozen Aqua Kale portions, they can utilize it in various forms that includes juices, salads, smoothies, sauce, tea, yogurt, bakery products etc. to increase the health benefits for the end products.

Frozen form of Aqua Kale portions is very convenient for HORECA to control the portions which can be easily used straight in the end products as compared to any other fruit or vegetables or soil grown kale, where they need to peel and wash, before they mix in the final product.

Albatha Group, one of the largest conglomerates in UAE, comprises of over 25 group companies with over 7000 employees spread across seven industry sectors i.e. automotive, consumer, engineering, home products, real estate, healthcare, household and personal care. Albatha business is spread across the Middle East and North Africa region with a distribution network that expands from the Indian sub-continent to Europe. Albatha represents over 200 international corporations serving them with their business and branding needs in the most effective and professional manner.