Avocado Oil from Kenya

Avo Kwanza Ltd is a collaborative business that has adopted a hands-on approach from the farm up to delivery and has all chains of the supply functional whilst partnering with companies run by interconnected shareholders. The company has built a solid client base in France with customers such as Capexo, KSC and AFJ, and seeks to move into emerging markets such as Asia and the Middle East.

The company has a large cold storage area where fruits are sorted and packed. The Avocado oil is packaged in flexitanks or IBC’s for shipment. The oil is stored in large drums, tank tanners and it takes around 7 days to produce and prepare for shipment, with most of the shipping being done by sea and air freight as well.

Avo Kwanza Ltd has a strict quality regime, ensuring that no fruits with skin diseases/defects or premature fruits with a low dry matter quantity are exported. Lab analysis and testing is conducted regularly and the company also runs regular hygiene and food safety tests at packing/processing facilities. The company has a Futura high-tech packing machine which sorts fruits by weight and quality along with a Felix dry matter tester to ensure the fruits are of good quality. The company also has a skilled workforce that is responsible for removing damaged fruits which are not of export quality and doing the final packing into relevant export boxes. The company also holds the Global GAP For Farm and Packhouse and GRASP certificates.

Avo Kwanza Ltd has an avocado factory in Thika that is 2400 m2, with a new larger factory of around 4000 m2 still under production. Kenya has suitable weather for growing avocados, as it is sunny for most of the year, from December – January and June – October, with rains occurring from March-May and in November. Harvesting occurs between March and August, and the company currently has 40MT of avocado oil available. Manual agricultural practices are used for cropping and yielding, based on the advice of the country's agricultural bodies, with the view of incorporating farming technologies in the future to improve yields.

Mechanical extraction is used to recover oil from ripe avocados, similar to olive oil extraction, with the additional step of removing the skin and stone (seed). The flesh is then ground to a paste and then malaxed for 40-60 minutes at 45-50 degrees Celsius. The high temperature aids the extraction of the oil and does not affect the quality of the oil. A high speed decanting centrifuge separates the oil and water phases from the pulp and then the oil is separated from the water in final polishing centrifuges.

Avo Kwanza Ltd offers cold-pressed Crude, Virgin and Extra Virgin Avocado Oil for consumption and further processing. Avocado oil is delicious, versatile, contains a wealth of flavor, and is used as an ingredient in other dishes and as a cooking oil. The oil contains up to 3% FFA (Free Fatty Acids) and is an excellent source of antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins. Avocado oil is also known to have numerous skin benefits and is therefore used in regenerative and moisturizing cosmetics. The product has a shelf life of 6 months when stored at 20 degrees Celsius. Samples of the fruit are available upon request.