Modified-atmosphere specialist Stepac has extended the range of vegetables and salads that can now be packed in its modified atmosphere/modified humidity (MA/MH) packaging.

Last month the Israeli fresh produce exporter STM Agriculture began to supply long cucumbers packed in custom-designed 5kg Xtend bags to UK salad specialist Abbey View Produce for distribution to Sainsbury’s.

Gill Wardell, Abbey View’s technical manager, said: “The cucumbers arrived in good condition with no apparent softness. We were surprised how fresh they looked. They had a good colour and a very fresh, English taste.”

Abbey View hopes this new source will help it cover the difficult January-February period when cold weather conditions can jeopardize supplies from Spain.

UK spring onion importer Bomfords requires all its suppliers to pack their produce in Xtend bags.

The combination of MA within the bag and the condensation control provided by the custom-developed polymers serve to prevent the unsightly re-growth of roots and leaves on the onions for as long as 21 days, ample time for them to be shipped from Egypt, for example.

Agrexco has been using Xtend packaging to preserve its organic Beit Alpha cucumbers for up to 18 days on the sea voyage from Israel to western Europe for the past five years.

Stepac said Xtend’s MA/MH performance is attributable not only to the produce-specific modified atmosphere that develops within the packaging, which slows down physiological processes and inhibits decay, but also largely to the hydrophilic nature of the films that are used.

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