Packaging for fresh-cut produce has entered an era of show and tell — in every sense.
Customers typically have been able to see what they are buying through innovative use of packaging materials (the “show”).
Now, because of interactive packaging, they also can link to additional information about the product inside (the “tell”).
For example, Growers Express has four brands, including Green Giant Fresh. The one- pound Grab N’ Go pouch packaging for sweet baby broccoli contains information on the bag addressing preparation and cooking instructions. This packaging has an added dimension: a 2-D bar code that contains information accessed with a Smartphone scanning app.
“The customer will be linked automatically into the particular product page that corresponds to the product they have purchased,” said Deanne Cagnacci, new product and development manager for Growers Express. “The versatility of the 2D bar code pack allows us to educate consumers on the product itself in terms of product health benefits, availability, product selection, product storage, product preparation (multiple cooking methods), versatile recipe and usage ideas and much, much more, while allowing the package to be clearly a window to the product itself.”
The information is contained on a URL listed within the barcode. When the smartphone camera takes a photo of the 2-D barcode, the customer can then access the website containing the additional information.
Chelan Fresh in Washington state has introduced new databar technology it calls greenscans. By downloading a greenscan app (www.greenscans.com) and then scanning a sticker with their smartphones, consumers will be able to view a grower video on 16 different apples.
Printing on every surface
Speaking during a recent education session at the United Fresh 2012 trade show in Dallas, Jeffrey Brandenburg, president of The JSB Group, said the increasing popularity of pouches is due in no small part to customer convenience as well as the fact that nearly every possible surface can be printed — at minimal additional cost.
Penny Sweeney of Lenexa, Kan.-based Robbie, said the flexible bags offer more options for printing and branding over rigid containers.
In fact, said Temkin International Produce Packaging Manager Joe Bradford, the new packages amount to “free billboards” in a way.
“By adding high graphics and really enhancing a brand, that’s where Temkin comes in and all of the packaging suppliers come in, by helping a produce company enhance their brand and enhance the image of what they’re selling,” Bradford said. “Instead of just putting an apple or green bean out for sale, now you’re branding with the farmer, the grower, the marketer. Before, we had, at best, a tag with a UPC. Now we can put information not only for traceability, but about your company, who you are, what you stand for, maybe an image, your website.”
And printing technology has only gotten better, said Robert Bergeron, vice president of Garlock Printing & Converting in Gardner, Mass., which produces packaging for such customers as Ready Pac, Taylor Farms and San Miguel Produce.
“We can do 100 percent coverage,” he said. “The bags can be printed everywhere.”
From fresh cut to value added
Taking a cue from the success of fresh-cut packaging, whole fruit and vegetables are more and more turning up in similar types of packaging.
“We follow a European influence and that European influence is to have nobody touch their food,” said Temkin’s Bradford. “We here in North America like to mimic that.”
That means more and more packaged fresh whole produce — and in shiny packaging that again helps identify the brand.
“What started as cut veg and what the processors would go through — they really started the trend, but now it’s whole fruit and whole veg,” Bradford said. “Before it was all about price and how simple you could make your package.
“Now it’s about being loud and boisterous and ‘look at how crazy our art work is.’”
That means items that used to be strictly bulk ending up in packages.
“Again, we have that billboard, and we also have traceability issues that are so much easier to trace and safety issues that people aren’t touching each other’s food,” Bradford said.
Packaging & shelf life
Maxwell Chase Technology in Atlanta, Ga., holds several patents that cover its Fresh-R-Pax absorbent packaging, including pads, retail containers, pouches, ribbed-bottom trays and slicing equipment for tomatoes and onions, said company CEO Michael Walsh.
“Our absorbent packaging takes away the excess fluid for fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, such as sliced and diced tomatoes, onions, celery, peppers, cucumbers and a variety of fresh-cut fruit items including watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon and pineapple. It is the removal of this excess fluid that results in the dramatic improvement in shelf life,” Walsh said. “Our absorbent packaging extends the shelf life of fruit and vegetables up to 14 days. This eliminates the need for modified atmosphere packaging.”
Packaging materials include standard and laminated poly blends, plant-based materials used for packaging that is more rigid, yet still flexible, rigid containers and a combination of poly blends and plant-based materials used in clamshells. There are containers that can be made with recycled materials.
“There has been a big focus on moving to green materials such as PLA (polylactic acid) and increase the recyclability of the existing materials such as PP (polypropylene),” Walsh said.
In plastic bags and pouches, producers apply perforations or breathable patches or use certain films based on the properties of the fruit or vegetables inside.
OCTAL’s DPET sheet is used to create a variety of airtight, tamper-evident packaging for fresh-cut produce. Strong, yet flexible, it’s sold throughout many parts of the world to be molded into a variety of snap- tight containers.
“It’s a very clear display,” said OCTAL Chief Operating Officer Joe Barenberg. “It gives you that feeling of cleanliness and freshness.
“And it’s literally airtight, like a drum. When you’re able to build that kind of seal into a package, the shelf life increases.”
Crucial role of equipment
Any discussion of packaging should include the equipment used in the fresh-cut packaging process. Hayward, Calif.-based Heat and Control manufactures and supplies inspection and packaging machinery such as weighers, conveyors, metal detectors, X-ray inspection devices, tray sealers, packaging machines and control systems.
“While equipment does not determine the success of a product, it certainly plays a crucial role in production profitability and the ability to meet orders quickly once the product is accepted in the marketplace,” said Blake Svejkovsky, Heat and Control manager of product handling systems.
Heat and Control offers a variety of inspection equipment to help processors ensure the safety of their fresh-cut products. That includes its Ishida X-ray inspection systems that detect the presence of metal, rocks, plastic and other foreign objects so they can be removed before the product reaches consumers.
Heat and Control also supplies CEIA metal detectors.
“The MS21 simultaneously uses a multiple spectrum of inspection frequencies, unlike other detectors (even three- frequency models), which check product using only one frequency at a time,” said Brian Barr, sales manager for packaging systems.
For an all-in-one inspection, Heat and Control’s Ishida IX-GA X-ray system can find damaged or missing product pieces and packaging defects, such as product trapped in a bag seal, Barr said.
