SCA Packaging helps to develop fresh fruit + concept prototype to slow fruit, vegetable ripening; corrugated board packaging absorbs ethylene, still needs additional compliance testing before market launch

Kendall Sinclair

STOCKHOLM , November 2, 2011 (press release) – Large amounts of fruits and vegetables are discarded during storage, transport and display at wholesales, in supermarkets and kitchens, causing both economic and ecologic loss. SCA Packaging and the Fraunhofer Institut in Freising, Germany have now developed the fruit fresh + concept to slow down unwanted fruit and vegetable ripening.

The secret behind the fresh fruit + concept is ethylene absorbing corrugated board that could be used to manufacture fruit and vegetable trays. Ethylene is a naturally occurring gas triggering the ripening process in certain fruits and vegetables.

The fresh fruit + concept works like this: The valleys of the corrugated board’s medium could be covered with a binder. An ethylene absorber is dispersed on the binder, for example as a power or granulate. Finally a liner is glued on the medium.*

This SCA innovation is still a prototype and more testing will be necessary before go to market to make sure that it is compatible with all existing regulations on product safety. But the market is already curious about the concept, earning us one of three SCA Packaging display and packaging nominations to this year’s German packaging award Deutscher Verpackungspreis.

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