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The flower tester
With hay fever and an allergy to gerberas you wouldn’t think working in the world’s largest auction house would be ideal. Anita van Niewenhoven, head of Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer’s test centre would, however, disagree.
With more than 20 million flowers and plants sold at Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer every day, quality is of paramount importance. She said: “I really love working here. With my allergies it is not good for me to be around flowers all the time, so I try to keep myself busy in other areas whenever I can.”
It is no wonder then that the largest flower auction in the world created its own test centre to ensure that the 13,500 species sold there each day are in a perfect condition.
This task falls to Anita and her team, who every day make quality checks on behalf of the growers, buyers and suppliers. “There have been a lot of changes in the flower trade since I started work here,” she said.
“External quality has always been important, but there is now growing importance on internal quality and onus on the buyer to provide more quality guarantees.
“When I first started work here all the tests were paid for by the auction. Now more and more are paid for by the buyers and growers.”
Tests can be made on uniformity, leaf quality, flower size and flower colour, how long the flowers will last in the home of the consumer, how fresh the flowers will be after transportation and if they are free of disease.
Regular testing provides a good insight into quality and means growers can use results as extra product promotion or to adapt procedures, perhaps in the cultivation or post-harvest phase.
In turn, traders can use the results to make adjustments to selection procedures or to supplier choice.
Durability is an important part of the testing process, as growers, buyers and suppliers alike need to know how long their flowers or plants will last in the home.
Participating growers can have their products tested weekly or fortnightly and all participants – both suppliers and traders – can view the results via the internet.
Anita said: “Testing started out with rose growers, but it is becoming increasingly common with other flowers growers.
“We need to be confident that the flowers and plants we sell here today are in a perfect condition when they arrive in a person’s living room in the UK or in Germany. On average, tulips have a six day vase life, while my favourite flower - the rose - has 10.”
Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer supports the introduction of new products and space in the test centre has been set aside to monitor them.
New products with good durability are given the honorary designation of ‘Fleur Primeur’ or ‘Plant Primeur’.
Anita said: “Testing new products is particularly important to a grower looking to produce a new variety, as if it displays a bad face life it means that it is not worth taking the risk.
“If the quality of these new products is not up to standard we cannot give them Fleur Primeur status, though growers can ask for a re-test.”
While many of the tests carried out are at the request of members, others have been required by quality control, whose job it is to flag up concerns about flowers when they arrive at the auction.
Flowers that are up to standard receive a quality mark, but those which aren’t are sent back to the grower and quality control staff may pay them a visit to discuss any problems.
Also, if a buyer comes back to the auction with a product they are unhappy with, this will also be tested in the centre.
The test centre has acquired a wealth of information and knowledge over the years and is manned by researchers and assistants who have a genuine passion for flowers and plants.
Anita said: “Imagine arriving for work everyday to be met with a mass of colour and beauty.
“My favourite part of the job is coming into contact with the many different flowers of the marketplace – even though some of them don’t like me!”
Anyone visiting Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer can pay a visit to Anita in the test centre, which can be found on the balustrade next to flower auction room E.
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