Wheatgrass juice a winner with health conscious Britons

Northern Irish healthy drinks producer Squeeze Juice Café has seen sales of its fresh wheatgrass juice increase by 40 per cent, mostly from customers in Great Britain, this year.

Squeeze Juice Café, based at Warrenpoint in County Down, has used e-commerce to drive sales outside Northern Ireland to more than 50 per cent of output in the first half of 2012.

The company is now selling 48 per cent of its wheatgrass juice sachets to customers throughout Great Britain, a sharp rise from 28 per cent at the start of this year.

Enterprising businesswoman Jacquelyn Stewart, who set up the wheatgrass operation in 2010, says "the rise in sales reflects a developing trend in Britain towards products for a healthier lifestyle".

"Encouragingly the juice is now being demanded by consumers of all ages.

"What we offer is a healthy and completely natural drink with provenance and full traceability because we grow, harvest, process, package and distribute fresh juice on demand. The internet is proving to be an immensely effective means of increasing awareness of the benefits of wheatgrass and in marketing the juice outside Northern Ireland," she adds.

The fresh juice, provided in handy sachets, has been developed with advice from food technologists at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) in Belfast. They used high-pressure equipment to lengthen the shelf-life of what continues to be a fresh product. The small company also uses the latest hydroponic technology to grow the wheatgrass for processing into a distinctive dark green coloured juice.

The unique high-pressure equipment has been proven to help companies keep foods fresher, tastier, safer and nutritious for longer. The technology has been accepted as it does not alter the appearance of the foods, helps avoid the need for chemical additives and preservatives, maintains vitamin levels and removes bacteria to give longer shelf-life and safer products.

Selling over the internet enables the company to juice the wheatgrass to order and deliver as fresh as possible within a few days. The freshly squeezed wheatgrass juice, supplied in 25 ml shot sachets, is reckoned by researchers to be the equivalent in nutritional value of 1kg of leafy green vegetables.

Mrs Stewart adds: "Wheatgrass contains over 90 minerals, including high concentrations of the most alkaline minerals: potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium, and is full of vitamins. It has more vitamin C than oranges and twice the vitamin A as carrots!"

Wheatgrass juice is claimed to build red blood cells boosting the immune system and increasing endurance during physical exercise. It is also said to contain 19 amino acids, the building blocks of protein. The increased red blood-cell count may help in lowering blood pressure. Other reported benefits may include detoxifying liver and protecting blood.