Spanish fresh-produce group UNICA has won the Fresh Produce category at Fruit Attraction’s Innovation Hub Awards 2026 for Popits, a bite-sized cucumber designed for convenient consumption.

The award was announced on 8 October during the final day of Fruit Attraction in Madrid. Organisers IFEMA MADRID and FEPEX said nine finalists presented their projects to a judging panel before the winners were selected.

Popits was recognised as a product concept that responds to changing consumption habits and demand for convenient fresh food. The award gives UNICA additional visibility among produce importers, retail buyers and fresh-food distributors attending the international exhibition.

For supermarkets, the relevant test is whether a smaller cucumber format can create additional purchases in the fresh-produce aisle rather than merely replacing standard cucumbers. Its positioning could also bring vegetables into snacking occasions traditionally served by packaged foods.

However, the official award announcement does not provide retail prices, supermarket listing agreements, production volumes or confirmed distribution markets for Popits. Those commercial details will determine how readily buyers can scale the product.

UNICA appears among the suppliers in GTN’s coverage of Spanish fresh-produce companies, reflecting Spain’s importance to Europe’s year-round vegetable supply.

The other Innovation Hub winners were POLYFLY, recognised for hoverfly-based pollination in the F&V Industry category, and AIMPLAS, recognised for compostable separators produced from olive-pruning waste in the sustainability category.

Each winning project received a €2,000 prize. For UNICA, the next commercial milestone will be translating the product’s trade-show recognition into measurable retail availability and repeat demand.