Are Sunrise Fresh Fruits ‘Upcycled’?
Yes, they are – and we’re proud of the fact.
Last year, we Upcycled over 10 million pounds of cherries, alone! Not only do we upcycle tons of fruits that would otherwise fill up landfills, but we work to find new ways to use our products to cut down on waste.
What is ”up-cycling”?
The term is also now an organization – the Upcycled Food Association, of which Sunrise Fresh is an active, supporting member. The reason is simple – here is the Association’s definition of an Upcycled food:
“Upcycled Foods use ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains and have a positive impact on the environment.”
So, you may ask – how does this define our dried fruits? Exactly, is how. Only a small percentage of fresh, raw fruits and vegetables are consumed each year. The apples you buy in the grocery store are a tiny fraction of the apples grown in the United States and, in fact, around the world. Those beautiful fresh peaches you crave every summer – again, only a tiny portion of the peach crop grown each season.
Because the largest part of our business is as an ingredient supplier – we are also glad to be able to offer ‘Certified Upcycled’ fruits to all of our customers. Beyond Cherries, we also recycled mover a million tons of Apples and Blueberries – that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill. Particularly in this post-pandemic world, more and more consumers are paying close attention to labels – not only for the kind of ingredients – but also for how the company obtains and processes them.
Many consumers also want to understand better where their choice of foods are in relation to sustainability and environmental impact – and at Sunrise Fresh, we strive to reduce waste not only in upcycling – but in all of our operations from the orchards to processing, packing and shipping.
Although ‘upcycled’ is a hot trend in the food industry, at Sunrise Fresh, we’ve been at it for a long time and we’ve upcycled over 80 Millions Pounds of Cherries since our founding. How do we get to such big numbers? Because we ‘dry’ fruits, our ratio of tonnage rises quickly –remember, there is a lot of ‘liquid’ in fresh fruits. When we process million pounds for fresh dark sweet cherries, we are saving 30 million tons of ‘fresh’ being thrown away!
So if you have an interest in using Upcycled fruits – that are also unsweetened, no-sugar added and preservative-free, look no further than Sunrise Fresh Dried Fruit! And if you are interested in finding out more about the Upcycled Foods Association, please contact us and we’ll fill you in! For more info, you can also contact us: