Extending the life of packaged fresh produce was a hot-topic at this year’s Fruit Focus. And with Sirane offering a range of innovative fruit & vegetable packaging solutions – including absorbent fruit pads, cushioned absorbent pads for soft-fruit, fruit pads offering ethylene absorbency, breathable packaging films, and absorbent crepe packaging – as well as the innovative Life+ packaging system - Sirane’s stand was kept busy.
Fruit Focus – held in East Malling, Kent, on July 19th – is one of the fruit industry’s most popular gatherings, and the perfect place to show off our full fruit-packaging range.Karl Heggarty, sales manager for fresh produce, said: “We always enjoy Fruit Focus, it is a great event and a good place to catch up with some familiar faces from the industry – and of course a great opportunity to show our packaging solutions to some new faces.
“Shelf-life extension seemed a hot-topic at this year’s Fruit Focus, and of course extending the life of fruit and vegetables is one area where Sirane has plenty of expertise.”
Italian packaging supplier Ilip’s Life+ packaging system combines an anti-mist punnet, an absorbent pad supplied by Sirane and a packaging film – and has shown significant shelf-life extension. The Life+ system is suitable for use with a wide range of fruits.
Meanwhile Sirane’s new Dri-Fresh ABV pads contain a blend of natural bio-flavonoids and organic acids which work together to naturally enhance the fruit’s own protective defences. Combined with the absorbency within the pad, they offer outstanding protection.
With shelf-life extension a real driver within the industry at the moment – because of the potential savings – ABV also provoked plenty of interest among visitors to the stand.
The technology can be supplied as standard absorbent pads or incorporated into our Dri-Fresh Soft-Hold pads – absorbent cushioned pads which prevent damage to soft-fruit during transportation. The technology is activated by moisture – functioning only when needed.
Simon Balderson added: “Shelf-life extension within fruit, particularly the soft-fruit world, is a big deal throughout the industry, and even just a few extra days makes a big difference.
“Soft-fruit has a short-shelf-life, meaning additional shelf-life is very valuable. It has little in the way of protective skin, so is vulnerable to fungal and bacterial degradation. As it is soft it is also vulnerable to damage during transportation – which can often be a long way.
“This is a completely natural solution to those problems that is very effective. What we’re doing is effectively taking the fruit’s own natural defence mechanism and supplying it when needed in a concentrated form. The results so far have proven to be very impressive.
“The combination of flavonoids which are anti-oxidants and anti-microbial, with organic acids including citric acid and ascorbic acids is harmless, as all elements are found naturally within fruit. It is clean, simple, and effective. Nature itself often has the answers.
“This complements our existing shelf-life extending technologies, including absorbent cushioned pads, anti-fungal pads, ethylene-absorbing pads and labels and more.”Fruits that could potentially benefit from Dri-Fresh ABV or Dri-Fresh Soft-Hold ABV include all types of berries – strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries - as well as other fruits vulnerable to damage: tomatoes; apricots; kiwi fruit; nectarines, and grapes.
Sirane’s Dri-Fresh Soft-Hold absorbent cushioned pads are already being shipped in large quantities to berry producers across North and Central America – some of the biggest soft-fruit growing regions globally – with the product starting to appear on supermarket shelves worldwide, including the UK. Dri-Fresh Soft-Hold ABV will only increase this demand.
Sirane is a highly innovative product development-to-manufacture company based in Telford, Shropshire. It has four divisions: food packaging; medical and healthcare; industrial and horticultural. The company’s specialisms include absorbent solutions.
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