Press Release

Mar 2009

BOOTS KICKS INTO SPRING WITH A GREAT NEW RANGE FROM TROPICAL WHOLEFOODS

Boots is to stock a range of bars from pioneering Fairtrade dried fruit company Tropical Wholefoods. The bars include Apricot & Kernel, Mango & Brazil and Pineapple & Cashew. All three are certified organic.
The bars will be sold in around 150 stores, providing nationwide distribution outside of the health food store sector from mid April.

Oliver Jones, Assistant Buying Manager, Boots - Nutrition, says: "We've added tropical bars to our current healthy snacking range to offer the customer greater choice and value for money, because the bars are also included in our popular Meal Deal."

The bars are packed in eye catching bright packaging which highlights the high fruit content of the bars and the Fairtrade and Organic origin of the ingredients. The bars are 40g and will retail at 79p when purchased, unless they are bought as a snack within Meal Deal (£2.99 for a sandwich, snack, and drink in most stores).

Tropical Wholefoods Marketing Director Kate Sebag adds: "Each of the bars contains 35% of our delicious dried fruits, blended with rainforest honey, organic nuts and cereals, which are lightly baked in our factory. The bars are wheat-free, lowin saturated fat and good sources of fibre so they taste great and they are great for you too."

Apricot kernels, which are included in the Apricot & Kernel bars, are the tiny nuts found when the stone inside an apricot is cracked open. They taste like almonds with hints of amaretti and are extremely nutritious, eaten by the famously long lived Hunza mountain people of northern Pakistan .

As well as using the kernels in its bars, Tropical Wholefoods is marketing the kernels in the UK in snack packs and in three favours, natural, tamari soya roast and chilli roast.

Ends

For more information, samples, packshots and other images please contact Margaret Rooke margaretrooke@btinternet.com 0790 44 55 666 or Helen Riley helenriley@headlinemedia.co.uk 020 8348 3103 / 07931 300 425

Notes to Editor:

Tropical Wholefoods' range of products includes: organic Fairtrade mango, sun dried pineapple, chewy banana chips, bogoya bananas, Fairtrade apricots, Fairtrade apricot kernels (three flavours), four types of dried mushrooms - organic chanterelles, shiitake, porcini, oysters, six flavours of organic, Fairtrade organic fruit and cereal bars - mango & brazil , date & walnut, apricot & kernel, pineapple & cashew, banana & honey, tropical fruit bar. Pack sizes range from 50g to 150g. All fruits are also available in bulk to trade.

The company was established by husband and wife team Adam Brett and Kate Sebag seventeen years ago in order to win lasting markets for farmers in developing countries. It supplies its branded products to supermarkets and also supplies dried fruit to them for use in their own brand offers. Most of their products carry the FAIRTRADE Mark, the only independent consumer guarantee of a fair deal for farmers in developing countries. In the UK the FAIRTRADE Mark is administered by the Fairtrade Foundation.

Tropical Wholefoods supplies Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Oxfam, Boots and smaller health food stores nationwide. It has a significant niche in the independent sector with products well known for their healthy and ethical qualities.Tropical Wholefoods works with business partners in some of the world's poorer countries. It buys dried bananas and pineapples from Fruits of the Nile in Uganda which in turn works with more than 700 farmers. It buys dried apricots, walnuts, almonds and apricot kernels from Mountain Fruits which works with more than 1500 farmers in the remote, arid mountains of northern Pakistan . It buys dried mangoes and cashews from Farming Associations WOUOL and TON in Burkina Faso .

The company which packs and bakes all its own products on site, employs 30 people in Sunderland and three in London. In addition to manufacturing the Tropical Wholefoods range, the company also does contract and own label manufacture of bars and packing of fruits. It has retail taster kits available which include a selection of its best selling fruits for instore tastings along with promotional material. These are supplied free of charge to distributors which list the box alongside other Tropical Wholefoods products in their catalogues.