New protective covers with modified atmosphere technology maintain freshness from farm to retail, offering a practical alternative for field-packed produce where traditional liners are impractical
Fresh produce packaging specialist StepacPPC has created a new sustainable packaging solution at full-pallet level to protect fresh produce from farm to retail.
According to the company, its advanced Xtend Pallet Shrouds ensure fresh berries and other produce items reach their destination in peak freshness while helping minimise plastic use.
StepacPPC said it has been actively addressing the need for climate-positive packaging that can extend the shelf-life of fresh produce during lengthy freight journeys for over 30 years.
Xtend Pallet Shrouds were specifically developed to accommodate scenarios for which the company’s traditional Xtend bulk carton liners are impractical, it noted.
These advanced protective covers preserve the quality of select fresh produce items stacked on a pallet for shipment at temperatures near 0°C.
”Delicate berries that present low-respiration rates, including blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries, especially benefit from StepacPPC’s shrouds and are an example of produce items for which conventional Xtend products, despite offering superior performance, are sometimes impractical,” the company stated.
In North America, berries are typically field-packed. Since berries need to be at least partially cooled before being packed in Xtend bulk bags, this creates a logistical challenge that complicates their use for field-packed produce.
”The pallet shroud is uniquely designed to keep produce fresh up to the final destination, where it is simply removed upon arrival,” StepacPPC outlined.
The covers are inbuilt with advanced modified atmosphere (MA) and modified humidity (MH) technology, which enables atmosphere and moisture control.
They create the ”optimal environment” to retain freshness and quality during storage and transit, it said, often requiring lengthy periods.
A further benefit is that the amount of plastic-per-unit weight of produce is kept to a minimum.
“We can tailor the pallet shrouds to meet the unique preservation needs of a variety of fruits and vegetables,” explained Gary Ward, CTO at StepacPPC.
“For produce items that do not benefit from modified atmosphere, we provide a variant that relies solely on modified humidity to reduce weight loss.
”It is also critical to understand for which produce items the use of pallet shrouds represents a risk due to the potential for ethylene accumulation, temperature increase or both,” he said.
”This is where our know-how and deep understanding of fresh produce and cold-chain logistics help us support our customers with the most effective packaging solution possible for their specific needs.”
Xtend Pallet Shrouds are constructed from advanced polyamide-based film with moderate to high water vapour transmission rates (WVTR).
They address what StepacPPC described as ”a key challenge in pallet-level packaging” – moisture accumulation.
”A pallet shroud’s small surface area to volume ratio makes it prone to trapping excess moisture, especially under fluctuating or poorly managed temperature conditions,” the group pointed out.
”This increases the risk of microbial decay and carton collapse. Xtend Pallet Shrouds effectively alleviate these risks through superior moisture control.”
Packers and shippers in Mexico are using StepacPPC’s solution to preserve quality of berries during lengthy shipment across Central and North America, it confirmed.
The move is proving effective in slowing the ripening of this perishable berry, minimising microbial decay and dehydration.
“Blueberries are extremely delicate fruits and highly sensitive to handling, temperature changes, and moisture and typically have a very short shelf-life,” noted Felipe Martinez, CEO Cima Berries Mexico
“The MAP properties of Xtend pallet shrouds helped us reduce weight loss and preserve the quality of our organic blueberries that we send by truck from Mexico to Guatemala.
”Once the shroud is removed, the berries are still firm and maintain their vibrant blue colour for display,” he added.
StepacPPC said that in Peru, Xtend pallet shrouds maintain blueberry quality throughout shipping to the US, during which the fruit is subjected to cold sterilisation treatment.
If sterilisation fails, the shroud can be removed for fumigation of the blueberries in the US.
Xtend pallet shrouds are also used to replace controlled atmosphere (CA) containers to ship blueberries from South Africa or when CA is unavailable.
”The difference in the cost between CA container and a standard reefer container became so significant that the usage of Xtend pallet shroud also provides a financial advantage,” the company said.
Beyond transportation, Xtend pallet shrouds are also becoming a practical tool for inventory management, helping maintain product quality during short to medium-term storage and levelling supply peaks and troughs.
In Poland, it said, growers and packers reported that the packaging allows them to store blueberries for up to four weeks, better managing stock and extending seasonality.
The shrouds are also protecting Argentinian blueberries during extended three-week cold storage after being airfreighted to the Middle East, minimising weight loss and significantly reducing microbial decay.
“Our pallet shrouds are proving to be instrumental in optimising inventory management and ensuring consistent market supply of high-quality berries over a prolonged period,” Ward concluded.
”Not only do they improve the experience of the customers who receive punnets of berries at close-to-harvest freshness, they help reduce waste and plastic use.”
