StePac LA Ltd, based in Galilee, Israel, has established a laboratory in East Malling, and a commercial centre in Rugby, Northamptonshire, to support its continued expansion in the highly competitive UK retail market.
Stepac has built a worldwide reputation for technological innovation in modified atmosphere packaging. Its Xtend® Integrated Post-Harvest System has brought major benefits to every part of the fresh produce supply chain including growers, importers, distributors and retailers.
Key to Stepac’s international success, said the company, has been the "way the company works closely with its customers to tailor the Xtend® system to particular types of produce and supply chains".
The laboratory in the UK, which is fully equipped with Post-Harvest research facilities, acts as a source of technical advice and information to interested customers and a means of setting up trials to confirm and measure benefits for specific products.
The laboratory is headed up by Dr Sarah Taylor, a plant physiologist who specialises in Post-Harvest technology. She has worked in the horticultural industry for the past 15 years as a post-harvest consultant providing solutions to technical constraints/problems faced by growers, exporters and importers. Taylor is supported by Olivier Belet, a post-harvest technologist, currently completing his Ph.D on the use of controlled and modified atmosphere on the storage of pears.
The commercial centre is led by Nick Holt, who has moved across from another role in StePac’s parent company, DS Smith Plastics, where he specialised in helping retailers audit supply chains and reduce total costs. That skill will be of direct relevance in helping to promote the view that there are major financial and quality benefits to be gained through investing in a scientifically rigorous system such as StePac’s Xtend®.
This team is beginning to develop links with UK retailers focusing on the success of Xtend® with produce such as bananas, avocados and cherries.
Holt said: “The food retail market in the UK is very sophisticated and solidly founded on a quality promise to consumers. Retailers, and other participants in the fresh produce supply chain, need to find more efficient and cost-effective ways of providing their consumers with fresh, nutritious and longer lasting produce. Xtend®’s proven track record is excellent and we recommend that any retailer selling fresh produce should take a very close look at what the system can offer and consult with our technologists on the relevant issues.”
The UK operation is further supported by Stepac’s main facilities based in Galilee, Israel where there are two further laboratories, one dedicated to research into polymers and film development and one focusing on the evaluation of plant physiology and plant pathology under Modified Atmosphere and Modified Humidity conditions.
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