Contribution to healthy food

The potato, a healthy product

Potatoes are packed full of beneficial, important nutrients like vitamin C, B1, B6, magnesium, zinc, carbohydrates, iron, folic acid and fibre and are naturally free from gluten. This makes the potato an ideal addition to a healthy and varied diet. In areas where food is scarce due to poverty or war, the nutritious and quick-growing potato can offer huge benefits. And the potato is a great asset to consumers who prefer food with fewer calories too. In short, the potato is good for everyone.

How we contribute:

a. Developing even healthier potato varieties and concepts
b. Information about the potato's contribution to a healthy diet
c. Helping people with financial problems in the region or improving the income levels for small households in developing areas.

A – Developing healthier potato varieties and concepts

We are devoting more attention to the potato's role in the consumer's diet. That is why we conduct research on taste, digestion and different health aspects.

Perupa's®

Ideal for a healthy diet: our Perupa’s®. These coloured potatoes, originating from Peruvian potatoes from the Andes mountain range, contain 40-150 mg/100g of the colourant anthocyanin.

Read more about Perupa's

Low-cal and low-carb breakthrough: Leon&León

French Fries with a 30% reduction in calories, carbohydrates and fat? Is that possible? Absolutely! Together with writer Leon de Winter, León Eijsman and De Korrel, we created the company Fries4All. Collectively, we have succeeded in developing fries which contain much lower levels of calories, carbohydrates and fat, under the name Leon&León.

The fries are made from the low-carb potato Colomba and are prepared in the air fryer. Thanks to a special coating, the fries are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Just like fries should be. The Leon&León fries can now be found in 660 branches of Albert Heijn.

Read the success story behind Leon&León (pdf)

Other HZPC concepts include:

SunLite®

Sunlite® is a tasty potato with fewer calories than the average potato. They contain a mere 58 kcal per 100 grams, compared to an average of 83 kcal for a regular potato.

58 potatoes

The potatoes under the name 58 potatoes are low-calorie, contain little salt and no cholesterol or fat. They are also full of fibre, vitamins, potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, iron and zinc!

WOKSI®

WOKSI® is a healthy and tasty potato concept whereby the potato is processed to create ready to eat, fresh chilled or frozen potato strings, which can be prepared in the wok but also be used for cold meals, such as salads. They can be used to make a healthy, relatively low-calorie meal (compared to rice and pasta) quickly and easily and are ideal for busy but careful consumers.

Finland was the location for the market début of the WOKSI® product
In December 2019, the potato processing company Pohjolan Peruna Oy, under the brand name Mummon, introduced the innovative WOKSI® concept to Finnish retailers. In spring 2020, the product will be introduced to the Finnish food-service market. There is also substantial interest from Poland. We are talking to an organisation in Western Europe too, which wants to roll-out the potato products in the Benelux, Germany and France.

Expertise in carbohydrates

We took part in research into carbohydrates by the Carbohydrate Competence Center (CCC). This private partnership between 19 companies and 6 knowledge institutions generated a great deal of high quality expertise with respect to carbohydrates. The knowledge gained supported the development of new, lighter, low-carb variants. Including SunLite® and Leon&León.

B – Information about the potato's role in a healthy diet

HZPC would like to reinstate the contact between the consumer and this truly natural product from their local environment. That is why we inform young and old alike about the potato via editorials and items in the (social) media.

Participation in information campaigns

The Power to the Pieper campaign is a sector-wide campaign by the Nederlandse Aardappel Organisatie (NAO or Dutch Organisation of Potato Merchants), made possible by the EU. The aim of the campaign is to promote the potato as tasty and healthy. Power to the Pieper uses a campaign to showcase the Netherlands.

In order to provide consumers and professionals with accurate and objective information, the NAO seeks regular cooperation with experts such as dieticians, nutritionists and agricultural experts. This expertise can be found on Kennisplatform Aardappels. This knowledge platform aims to provide experts and professionals, journalists and interested consumers with objective information about potatoes.

Guided class tours

We offer guided class tours at our greenhouse complex at Metslawier quite regularly. Here, the children are able to view the modern, sustainable greenhouses, find out how potato breeding works and see how potatoes grow in the test fields.

C – Helping families with financial problems

We have a long-term relationship with Voedselbank Noordoost-Nederland We help families with financial problems, by providing them with potatoes. In 2019, 40 tons of potatoes were donated to the Foodbank in Drenthe and 1000 kg to the Foodbank in Friesland.

We have now also developed the first specifically tropical variety which can help small households in developing areas to improve their incomes. These are sustainable varieties with a range of resistance which offer more security in terms of yield, and prevent food being wasted. The varieties have come out of a collaboration with CIP, supported by the Syngenta Foundation. In order to guarantee the success of selection, the breeding process took place in Asia too. This, in turn, provided employment opportunities and training.