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15 November 2020
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BASF worked together with influential online cooking community to show value of tomato seed breeding

BASF teams up with SORTEDfood to engage 3 million-strong digital generation

New episode focuses on tomato breeding, reduction of food waste and consumer-driven food trends

Nunhem, the Netherlands, November 15, 2020 - BASF again worked together with SORTEDfood on an YouTube episode to show the value of tomato seed breeding for the reduction of food waste and the enjoyment it brings to food lovers and kitchen chefs. SORTEDfood is a UK-based YouTube cooking channel and global online community of food lovers. Set up in 2010 by school friends, SORTEDfood now unites over 3 million, mainly 18-34-year-old, digital ‘foodies’ globally, helping each other cook and eat smarter every day.

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Seed Breeding - Intense Tomatoes

The partnership between SORTEDfood and BASF was established in early 2020, aiming to give this online community a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at where their food comes from and showing how agricultural science and technology contribute to producing nutritious and sustainable food.

The SORTEDfood crew has a passion for food, how it is produced and how to cook it; the team also provides tools and recommendations to create delicious midweek meals whilst saving money and minimizing waste. Their mission is to help their members to shop, cook and eat smarter via their high-energy videos and app-based solutions.


Due to Covid-19, the interviews for this episode were setup remotely between London and BASF’s tomato demonstration location in ‘s Gravenzande, the Netherlands.  The team’s first interview was with Ben Silvertand, one of BASF’s tomato breeders, focusing on breeding varieties for the high-tech market. For Silvertand, tomato breeding is all about improving flavor and achieving high quality and yield characteristics. He enjoys working with tomatoes and predicts an exciting future for consumers with many new and improved varieties heading towards our plates.

The second interview was with Anne Jancic, Marketing and Business Development specialist for high tech crops, who explained: “Plant breeding plays an important role for our society. With our seeds and via our customers who buy them, we make an impact on the food of 500 million consumers worldwide, every day. Our breeding toolbox and genetics can contribute to meet their demands for enjoyable and healthy food, and the demands of a changing society and planet. Our Intense tomato is just one of many consumer-oriented solutions we offer.”

 

Later on, the SORTEDfood team met Franck Pontais, culinary development manager at Koppert Cress and a leading chef from Paris, for a cooking lesson. He provided a dash of tomato inspiration and showed how to make the most of the low-gel, full-flesh characteristics of BASF’s Intense tomato in the kitchen, ensuring their texture and flavor. He even inspired the team to take up unusual tomato recipes in their traditional cooking battle with the Intense tomato as the special ingredient.


The BASF and SORTEDfood partnership will continue to run in the next months and highlight a range of farmers, experts, foods and recipes from all over the world. For more information, please visit www.sorted.basf.com.

About BASF’s Agricultural Solutions division

With a rapidly growing population, the world is increasingly dependent on our ability to develop and maintain sustainable agriculture and healthy environments. Working with farmers, agricultural professionals, pest management experts and others, it is our role to help make this possible. That’s why we invest in a strong R&D pipeline and broad portfolio, including seeds and traits, chemical and biological crop protection, soil management, plant health, pest control and digital farming. With expert teams in the lab, field, office and in production, we connect innovative thinking and down-to-earth action to create real world ideas that work – for farmers, society and the planet. In 2019, our division generated sales of €7.8 billion. For more information, please visit www.agriculture.basf.com or any of our social media channels.

About BASF    
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. More than 117,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of €59 billion in 2019. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com

 

Last Update 15 November 2020