Channel 4 came to the Fruit & Vegetable Market to shoot a segment for Aldi’s Next Big Thing. The weeknight series sees small suppliers of products ranging from dinner and baked goods, to store cupboard essentials and delicious treats, pitch their product to Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, to compete for seven listings on the discount retailer’s shelves.

We can’t give away too much detail, as the show won’t be aired for a few months, but one of the suppliers in this series was recommended a visit to the Market to investigate the options of buying a different grade of banana for their processed product. Chris Bavin, who has a long association with the Market, is one of the presenters and accompanied the producer on their early-morning visit, to talk to P&I Fruits and Premier Foods Wholesale.

Pictured above is Danny of P&I Fruits who explained the differences between bananas of different grades and how bananas that are slightly over-mature may not sell because consumers generally buy with their eyes, but will quite possibly have a better flavour profile when they are for immediate use, whether fresh or processed.

We can tell you that the supplier was competing in the store cupboard essentials category – we’ll have to wait and see whether they are successful before we know if the orders will come flooding in to our traders!