Dive Brief:
- Sunpreme, a raisin grape resulting from crossbreeding raisin varieties that dry on the vine, could be the answer to the high costs associated with producing raisins from grapes.
- To harvest raisins involves "a lot of hand labor to harvest raisins, three or more rounds of pruning, quality control and picking," all of which lead to major costs for farmers, which are then passed along to food companies, NPR reported.
- However, while these raisins could potentially be more affordable due to lower labor costs, companies may be concerned about the color and taste of Sunpreme raisins, which are lighter and not as strongly flavored as other raisin varieties.
Dive Insight:
Major raisin producers may be relieved to hear that labor costs could come down on a crop that once needed hundreds of workers and may now only need a handful per farm.
As many major food companies are looking internally to cut costs, reducing the costs of ingredients is another contributor to a better bottom line, as long as quality isn't sacrificed to the point of losing customers.