Salad Made in Panasonic's High-Tech Indoor Farm Hits The Market
Salad Made in Panasonic's High-Tech Indoor Farm Hits The Market
From left: Panasonic Factory Solutions Asia Pacific managing director Tatsuyoshi Ishii, Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore CEO Lim Kok Thai, Panasonic Singapore managing director Paul Wong, Tong Chiang Group’s CEO Lisa Zou and group executive chef Gary Wu.ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
December 1, 2017
The SingaSalad mixes locally grown vegetables with dressings inspired by two Singaporean dishes
Catering company Tong Chiang Group has come up with a new salad using locally grown vegetables supplied by Panasonic, and salad dressings inspired by two popular local dishes - chilli crab and Hainanese chicken rice.
For a start, the SingaSalad is now available only on the menus of eight of Tong Chiang Group's subsidiary catering companies. Consumers will be able to buy retail packs at selected supermarket outlets sometime next year.
The company's chief executive Lisa Zou, who prefers to eat healthily, says it has always been her goal to give customers healthier food choices.
She says: "Now that we have a supply of fresh and pesticide-free vegetables from Panasonic, we created the SingaSalad to encourage consumers to eat healthier and support home-grown produce."
Panasonic's vegetables are grown at the company's high-tech indoor farm located at the Panasonic Factory Solutions Asia-Pacific's premises in Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim. The Japanese electronics giant ventured into vertical farming here in 2013. Its 1,154 sqm indoor farm, about the size of 11/2football fields, now produces 81 tonnes of vegetables annually, which are sold to restaurants and supermarkets.
Vegetables supplied to Tong Chiang Group's central kitchen are harvested and delivered the same day, directly from Panasonic's indoor farm.
Mr Paul Wong, managing director of Panasonic Singapore, says: "We are happy to have a collaboration with Tong Chiang Group which shares our vision of promoting locally farmed produce which contributes to Singapore's food security."
The SingaSalad vegetable selection includes green leafy lettuce, red leafy lettuce, mizuna, mini red radish, mustard wasabi and a range of microgreens.
The salad dressing recipes are developed by Tong Chiang Group's group executive chef Gary Wu. He says: "By providing our Chilli Crab and Hainanese Chicken Rice dressings, we want to encourage consumers to eat healthier without missing out on the flavours of our local classics."