Sustainability

Tomato fiber-based packaging finds commercial applications

Canadian grower Pure Hothouse Foods and French grower Idyl switch to solid board packaging for their vegetables that is enriched with tomato plant fibers.

December 25, 2016

Fruits/Vegetables: Page 6

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Case printing upgrade enhances traceability

Prima Frutta delivers denser, higher-definition product identification and GTIN bar codes on each shipping case.

November 4, 2016

Weighing/combination scales

Family farm’s new scale systems eliminate excess product giveaway

New scales yield ROI in a week by avoiding overfilling sweet potatoes and watermelons. For Corey Farms, the subsequent savings are no small potatoes.

October 18, 2016

Fruits/Vegetables

Scientific research shows how corrugated stops bacteria

New scientific work reveals that microorganisms die when they get trapped in paper fibers and die due to a lack of water and nutrients.

September 15, 2016

Secondary Packaging

Apple packing plant automates palletizing

Washington Fruit & Produce significantly reduces labor and product damage when it implements robotic palletizing systems at its two apple-packing plants.

August 8, 2016

Operational Excellence

Shelf life extension for produce exports

An exporter of pomegranates that is based in Mumbai, India, is getting improved shelf life since it began using a novel flexible film designed to allow produce to respire at an optimal rate.

April 30, 2016

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Printers picked for reliability

Family-owned fresh produce business S&A Group in the U.K. is using Zodiac thermal-transfer overprinters to help reduce packaging costs and increase coding efficiency across its two production sites in Herefordshire and Kent.

October 16, 2015

Flexibles

Bags keep cut watermelon fresh up to 11 days

A gusseted bag for sliced watermelon provides an extended shelf life and adds consumer convenience with a carry handle, resealability, and the option to buy smaller portions.

June 22, 2015

Controls & Machine Components

Unique serialization comes to fresh produce

Proudly representing the food industry at The Automation Forum, and the produce industry in particular, was Dewey R. Scott, Operations Manager at North Carolina sweet potato packer Scott Farms.

May 19, 2015

Conveying & accumulation

Easy-clean conveyor network

Monterey Mushrooms installs multiple conveyors to ramp up six-lane packing line speeds and simplify sanitation operations.

May 4, 2015

Fruits/Vegetables

Playful packs make beets more approachable

Love Beets ready-to-eat beets get a new package design that makes the traditionally hard-to-prepare vegetable more convenient and accessible for consumers.

December 26, 2014

Sustainability

Off The Shelf: Tomatoes bust out of the clamshell syndrome

Mastronardi Produce of Kingsville, Ontario, has introduced its Wild Wonders Gourmet Medley tomatoes in a thermoformed PET that is interesting because it is not a clamshell.

November 11, 2014

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

New produce packs steal the show

New plastic produce packaging spotted at the United Fresh show encourages snacking on fresh fruits and vegetables and offers new meal solutions.

June 17, 2014