(QUINCY MA) – It’s that time of the year, and Stop & Shop now offers Orchard Perfect fruit, a specialty line of summer fruit that combines traditional fresh fruit growing with cutting-edge technology.

Exclusive to Stop & Shop and Giant stores, the Orchard Perfect line of summer fruit includes peaches, nectarines, plums, white flesh peaches and white flesh nectarines that have been carefully ripened under the warm Californian sun and hand-picked at the peak of perfection.

Customers buying Orchard Perfect products are assured of extra special handling coupled with patented technology designed to guarantee freshness. Once Orchard Perfect fruit is picked, it’s gently layered by hand into single layer cartons to prevent bruising. This process assures that the fruit is immediately ready for consumption once it arrives in the stores.

In addition to using the latest farming practices including packing and shipping systems to provide consumers with the tastiest fruit available today, Orchard Perfect peaches and nectarines are pre-conditioned with a special "temperature management" process that enhances ripening prior to shipping, making these summer fruits taste as if they were just picked.

"This unique ripening process allows us to offer consumers fruit that is juicier, consistent and much more flavorful," said Gary Kosofsky, Vice President of Produce at the Perishable Procurement Organization, a centralized buying group for Stop & Shop and other Ahold operating companies in the United States. "Pre-ripening also protects the fruit from internal breakdown, such as discoloration and browning. This all-natural process gives our consumers the ultimate eating experience."

About Stop & Shop
Based in Quincy, Massachusetts, Stop & Shop operates 360 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York and employs more than 58,000 associates.