Fresh Del Monte launches personal-size pineapple

Fresh Del Monte has unveiled Del Monte Precious Honeyglow, a personal-size fresh pineapple that is available year-round nationwide exclusively through Melissa’s Produce.

Fresh Del Monte’s new Precious Honeyglow is the latest in the company’s line of Honeyglow pineapples. Grown at specialty farms in Costa Rica, Del Monte Honeyglow pineapples are left to mature and ripen naturally on the plant for a few extra days, resulting in an extra sweet taste and radiant golden hue, according to a news release.

The company says Precious Honeyglow is the most compact pineapple in its history, weighing between 1.5 pounds and 2 pounds, about half the average weight of a full size traditional fresh pineapple. The smaller Del Monte Precious Honeyglow is designed to offer consumers more choices in the variety and size of their fresh whole pineapple, to suit taste preferences and reduce food waste, the release said.

“As the world’s top producer of fresh pineapples, Del Monte offers a wide range of options to suit consumer preferences, whether it’s a sweeter taste, sustainability benefits or a versatile range of sizes,” Melissa Mackay, Fresh Del Monte’s vice president of marketing for North America, said in the release. “Our new Precious Honeyglow delivers everything that people love about Del Monte Honeyglow pineapples, such as its extra sweet taste and distinct color, in a compact single-serving size.”

Single-person households are on the rise in the U.S, with more than 28% of American households now occupied by a single person — the second largest proportion of the population, according to the release. The shrinking size of U.S. households is contributing to greater food waste due to spoilage, which according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service, results in 133 billion pounds of food wasted annually, at a value of approximately $161 billion. Internal surveys conducted by Fresh Del Monte show that single-person households are significantly less likely than multiple-person households to prefer full-size whole pineapples, specifically to avoid wasting fruit, the release said.

Fresh Del Monte says it offers fresh pineapples in a range of different varieties and sizes to provide consumers with a range of options, such as fruit size or desired sweetness. This lineup includes the Del Monte Gold Extra Sweet Pineapple, which is twice as sweet as traditional varieties and features a beautiful golden flesh, available in multiple sizes including the Grandissimo Gold grand pineapple, the release said.

The company says it also offers a range of Honeyglow pineapples, which are hand-harvested at peak sweetness and ripeness and includes regular sizes and smaller options such as the Mini Honeyglow and Precious Honeyglow. The company’s other fresh pineapple products include its proprietary Pinkglow variety of bright pink pineapple and Del Monte Zero Carbon Neutral Pineapples, which is certified by SCS Global Services — global leader in third-party environmental and sustainability verification, certification, auditing, testing and standards development.

After a comprehensive assessment of Fresh Del Monte’s Costa Rica pineapple production through shipment and sale to the North American and European markets, SCS Global Services determined that the specially designated Del Monte Zero pineapples’ greenhouse gas emissions have been negated by the reabsorption of Fresh Del Monte-owned forests, making those pineapples’ carbon footprint net zero, according to the release.

As with all Del Monte pineapples and other Fresh Del Monte products, Precious Honeyglow pineapples sustainable practices for planting, harvesting and transporting, the release said.