PIM sources premade bags through distributor Hebberd-Kulow (Brawley, CA). The 1.9- or 2-mil bags are made of low-density polyethylene, and they're flexo-printed in five colors.
PIM president Tom Russell says the company now has a line of 15 organic products in the zippered bag. "Traditionally, produce like celery hearts and others are put in a plain-looking plastic bag with a metal twist tie," he says. "We wash our produce in the field and manually pack and seal these bags. The small vent holes in the structure allow cool air to replace warmer air inside the bag when we put cases of the bagged products into a vacuum cooling chamber."
Like produce that is not grown organically, which PIM also markets, shelf life for the organic veggies is 18 to 21 days. The real advantage of using the resealable bag, Russell suggests, is that products stay fresh for eight to 10 days in the refrigerator after the bag is opened. That's four or five days more than a traditional package that's placed back unclosed in the refrigerator.
