Stepac Xtend blueberries

This year marks the first Fruit Logistica show since packaging group StePac was acquired by Johnson Matthey, a global leader in sustainable technologies.

“We see this as an ideal stage to present the exciting opportunities that the acquisition offers, in particular the prospects for further advancement of packaging products by combining functionalities developed by Johnson Matthey’s Technology Centre,” said Rani Kadosh, StePac’s sales and marketing manager.

In Berlin, StePac will be presenting its core produce packaging for prolonging freshness of over 60 different fruits and vegetables, with a few new improved applications for high value produce items such as blueberries.

Alongside its standard blueberry packaging that provides freshness extension for blueberries maintained under supply chain temperature conditions of between 0-2°C, the company’s R&D team has developed a unique new Xtend packaging for blueberries that is designed to withstand dramatic temperature fluctuations that are prevalent in some markets.

“The increased global demand for blueberries has necessitated the development of solutions that can preserve freshness and quality under the most challenging of supply chains. We are very excited to present our ground breaking packaging solutions in response to the real needs of our clients,” noted Dr Gary Ward, technical development manager at Stepac. “We look forward to meeting with our clients at Fruit Logistica to share the benefits of this and other Xtend products.'