Innovative Modified Atmosphere/Modified Humidity (MA/MH) packaging developed by StePacPPC is facilitating the transition away from ice-filled polystyrene and waxed carton boxes for packaging fresh broccoli and other vegetables for long-haul shipments in both the US and Japan.
The Otofuke Agricultural Cooperative in Japan (JA Otofuke) —a major broccoli producer—is already benefiting from using it.
“In our efforts to move away from polystyrene foam with ice and its inherent contamination risks, we considered various alternatives for maintaining freshness without using ice,” explains Akio Yamagishi, Manager of the Fruit and Vegetable Sales Department of JA Otofuke. “We tested various modified atmosphere packaging films, including the Xtend films from StePacPPC. After inspecting the condition of the broccoli upon arrival, Xtend outperformed the rest in both appearance and quality.”
The packaging is also being widely adopted in the U.S. for supplying fresh broccoli to the food service sector. “At a time when flexible plastic packaging is under the spotlight, we have, together with researchers at the Agrotechnology & Food Sciences Group at Wageningen University, demonstrated that our functional ‘lean and green’ packaging solution reduces the carbon footprint by approximately 40% in shipments from Salinas Valley on the West Coast of California to New York on the East Coast, demonstrating a positive environmental impact,” informs Gary Ward, Ph.D., CTO for StePacPPC.
