Pineapple

Commodity Overview

Pineapples can be the base of a larger tropical display. Surround them with bananas, mangoes, kiwifruit and other tropicals that sell well in your produce department. Make pineapple a star of your tropicals category to boost sales and improve profits.

PLUs

4029 small
4430 large
4431 jet fresh, small
4432 jet fresh, large
3379 mini
3380 perola
3037 queen

Varieties

Golden Pineapple

Hawaii Gold Pineapple

Retail Price Data is based on USDA Specialty Crops Market News surveys. Data collection ends on the report date and encompasses ad pricing good from the Saturday before the report release date through the following Friday. Weekly data - from over 400 retailers, comprising more than 30,000 individual stores with online weekly advertised features - covers over 250 produce items. Registered (logged-in) users, can access weekly reports and additional market information.

USDA Specialty Crops Market News publishes FOB and Movement data on a daily and weekly basis. Pricing and volume information is aggregated by commodity and published weekly, subject to any source-data adjustments. Commodity data is further processed based on origin (domestic vs imports) and type (regular vs. organic). Registered (logged-in) users, can access weekly reports and additional market information.

Facts

Pineapple’s sweet taste can make consumers forget all about its health benefits, but it offers many. Like all fruits high in vitamin C, pineapple can help boost the immune system and fight cancer. Pineapple is an inflammation fighter. It contains the enzyme bromelain, which has been shown to help reduce inflammation. Pineapple contains manganese and thiamin, which help produce energy for your body. Pineapple is a great choice for those on low-sodium, low-cholesterol diets.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the following nutrient content descriptors for pineapples: fat-free, saturated fat-free, very low-sodium, cholesterol-free, and high in vitamin C.

Sales Strategies

Pineapple has a few natural partners for cross-merchandising, including ham, stir-fry vegetables and sauces and bagged salads.
Pineapple is a tropical fruit that is available year-round. Promote it throughout the year.
Fall: Promote pineapple, especially fresh-cut pineapple, as a great addition to school lunchboxes.
Winter: Include pineapple in holiday fruit baskets and boxes. Add fresh-cut pineapple chunks to holiday fruit trays. Promote it as a natural complement to ham during the holidays. Include pineapple in Chinese New Year promotions.
Spring: Promote pineapple as a tasty addition to springtime salads. Encourage consumers to add pineapple to Easter and Mother’s Day brunches.
Summer: Promote pineapple as a quick, easy summertime snack. Include it in summertime grilling promotions as it makes a great addition to grilled fruit skewers.
Offer samples to encourage impulse buys.
Pineapple is popular with Asian and Hispanic consumers, so if you have large ethnic populations that shop at your store, be sure to promote pineapple on a regular basis.

Dynamic Displays

Pineapple can bruise so don’t dump it on the display or stack it on top of each other.
Remove any product with dried out, shriveled leaves.
Pineapples can be the base of a larger tropical display. Surround them with bananas, mangoes, kiwifruit and other tropicals that sell well in your produce department.
Add fresh-cut pineapple to your display to encourage time-strapped consumers to pick some up.

Food Service

Add pineapple as a side dish on your children’s menu.
Include pineapple in fruit cup side dishes.
Add pineapple to ice cream sundae bars.
Include pineapple in salads and on salad bars.
Pineapple is a great flavor for baked goods. Include it in cakes, cookies and pies.
Include pineapple in smoothies.
Pineapple adds flavor to stir-fry dishes.

In the Backroom

Shipping
40-lb cartons/flats, 2-layer 20-lb. cartons/flats, 1-layer RPC -- 6413, 6416, 6419, 6420 Consumer packs 12-, 16-, 40- and 80-oz. bags of fresh-cut chunks, wedges and spears Fresh-cut cylinders 20-oz. packs Fresh cored pineapple 32-oz. bags Foodservice packs 5-pound plastic airtight pouches of wedges, cylinders, spears and tidbits

Grades
United States U.S. fancy U.S. No. 1 U.S. No. 2 Hawaii Hawaii fancy Hawaii No. 1 Hawaii cocktail

Handling
Temperature: mature green, 50 to 55 F (10 to 12.8 C); ripe, 45 F (7.2 C), 32 to 35 F (0 to 1.7 C) Relative humidity: 85-90% Mist: no Typical shelf life: 14 to 36 days Odor-sensitive (Do not store or transport odor-sensitive items with commodities that produce odors. Pineapples will absorb odors produced by avocados and green peppers.) Susceptible to chilling injury (Damage sometimes is not apparent until produce is returned to a higher temperature.) Fruit with a deep yellow shell color has higher sugar content because it is picked later in the growing process.