Fresh toppings get exotic.

Parripak Foods, one of the UK's largest processor of fresh vegetables, has developed a new modified atmosphere technology which extends the shelf life of fresh products to more than seven days on average.

Parripak's joint managing director James Parrish said. "Customer demand for the

taste and quality of fresh toppings over frozen has been steadily growing. This has lead to the production of ever more exotic products such as julienne leeks for duck based pizzas, and marinated vegetables which offer different flavour profiles such as chargrilled mushrooms, Jamaican jerk mix and extra hot onions."

Apart from the staple pizza topping products including chillies, garlic, red onions tomatoes and mushrooms, Parripak says that they are seeing a growing demand for the 'tear free' qualities and sweet and mild flavour of the Supasweet onion. This type of onion has a pungency of two to three on the pyruvate scale, compared to a standard onion with an eight rating on the scale.