Local agro-processors have gained access to the formulation of an ackee & saltfish spread, paving the way for the commercialisation of a value added-product derived from the national dish that has been tipped to be a hit on the international market.

The Jamaica Agro Processors Association (JAPA) last week signed a contract with the formulator of the spread, the Scientific Research Council (SRC), for transfer services of the technology to the body. The signing took place in the presence of representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which is funding the commercialisation project under its Caribbean Agri-Food Value Chain initiative.

JAPA will pay SRC a licencing fee for use of the technology by its members, except for three companies under the Ackee Value Chain Project, namely Central Packers, Tijule Limited, and Southern Fruits and Processors Limited that have access to the formulations without having to pay the licensing fee.

“What we have done is to introduce more value-added products from ackee instead of just having the canned cooked ackee,” said SRC executive director Dr Chadwick Anderson.

“We anticipate that it will be a huge hit,” he told Sunday Finance.

The spread is expected to significantly increase ackee usage, including those fruits which cannot be canned, as well as reduce production loss to the agro-processing sector.

“We have two types of ackee, one of which is traditionally more suited for the canned ackee, and there are also stipulations for the size of the ackees that you can put in a can,” explained Anderson.

“The question is what does the processor do with the ackees that cannot be canned? The spread gives processors an opportunity to use ackees that cannot be used for the canning process,” he noted.

Anderson said that the ackee & saltfish spread will diversify the lucrative processed ackee export business which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Additionally, he noted that while demand of canned ackees is possibly not very high in a local market which traditionally leans towards cooking the freshly picked fruits, it is anticipated that there will be a more favourable response domestically to the ackee and saltfish spread because it is value-added .

“Once the market gets hooked on it, then it becomes a continous source of sales for the processors,” predicted Anderson.