‘bellybees’ a natural fruit solution for children

Wednesday, 27 August 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

First-ever Sri Lankan ‘Ready to Eat’ baby food, ‘bellybees’ was formally launched at the inaugural day of Pro Food Pro Pack & Agbiz 2014 exhibition at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Centre on 22 August under the patronage of Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

bellybees, a product of the newly formed Quebee Den Ltd., is manufactured by Country Style Foods Ltd., SMAK products. Currently ‘bellybees’ is available in mango, papaya and mandarin blends and available to be purchased in all leading supermarkets islandwide. bellybees product is manufactured at Country Style Foods Ltd. – SMAK drinks facility, which is an ISO certified company and is free from preservative, colourings, added sugar, salt or any artificial flavours. It is a 100% natural food item and available in 150 g bottles. The specially made ready to eat baby food is suitable for children from the age of 6 months to 18 months. “We first designed this product for my 10-month-old son and decided to make it available to all other children,” Quebee Den Ltd. Chairman/MD Rohanthi Wijewickrama said.

The young entrepreneur Wijewickrama also said: “The fruit pulp will be a healthy diet for your child as it provides the natural vitamins which contains in a real fruit and of course it’s convenient for parents. We use only fresh mangoes and papayas to produce bellybees, and the fruits are locally grown from around Sri Lanka.” In an aim to enhance the local agricultural sector via protecting the local farmers, Wijewickrama said that the company and the bellybees product would definitely help to enhance local agricultural industry as it would undoubtedly promote and strengthen the livelihood of local fruit farmers. She reiterated that the fruits would only be purchased from local farmers. Explaining the advantages of ready to eat bellybees, the young entrepreneur said that with the present busy life styles of parents this baby food would help them to give their child the best foods in an easy way. “We are just beginning to explore new food items for children and aspire to be among the best in the near future,” she assured. “As the children are the most precious thing of any parent’s life, it is compulsory to give natural foods especially during their first two years and bellybees is the natural fruit solution for your kid.”