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The best meals start with the freshest ingredients, and when it comes to fruit and vegetable packaging, freshness and quality are very much a black or white result for grocery shoppers. The proper packaging solution can mean the difference between a customer putting your products in their cart or leaving you to wilt in the produce aisle. So, having reliable packaging for fruits and vegetables is essential to maximizing the producer’s profitability and brand reputation.
How to Know What Fruit & Vegetable Packaging You Need
To find the best fruit and vegetable packaging solution for your product to maximize its shelf quality, we recommend considering these key factors.
Visibility
Produce packaging typically has a high degree of transparency for shoppers to see package contents easily. Whether accomplished through a bag, container wrap, or top seal may depend on the type of product that you’re packaging. For example, are you bagging lettuce heads, mushrooms in an open-top box, or a resealable container of grapes? Customers expect to easily see the produce they’re buying to check for visible signs of freshness before deciding to buy. Maximizing visibility fosters a better shopper experience and can go a long way to building brand loyalty.
Safety and Security
There may be enhanced requirements for fruit and vegetable packaging needed to meet safety and security expectations in some instances. For example, using a resealable lid film, like Sealutions™, gives customers the confidence they need in seeing your product and knowing that they can count on a sturdy reseal to extend the life of their purchase. And including tamper-proof features in your product packaging gives customers more peace of mind as they make their way through their shopping list.
Maximum Shelf Life & Quality
Produce packaging has to work well for the type of produce it contains, not stifle or suffocate it. For example, whether a product is cut or whole can significantly affect its respiration (the O2 and CO2 generated while in the package). This means that fruit and vegetable packaging should be tailored to how the item breathes. Modified atmosphere packaging is designed to help products breathe and, in turn, maximize shelf quality so your customers can open up a sense of freshness and not the disappointment of foul odors and soggy goods instead. At Belmark, we offer in-house respiration testing capabilities so that our customers can have a comprehensive produce packaging solution under one roof.
To learn more, ask a Belmark packaging expert about what’s involved in matching a film’s breathability to the produce respiration rate. The right packaging makes a world of difference, Belmark packaging keeps your produce truly fresh, increasing shelf life by up to 100% so you can reach more retailers and homes.
Sustainability
As consumers prioritize environmentally friendly packaging and sustainability in their purchasing behaviors, the popularity of recycled clamshells and minimal plastic packaging rises. It’s why Belmark has developed Mindful Solutions to help our customers meet their shopper expectations. For example, our tru-IMPACT® solution provides sustainable packaging solutions like eco-friendly pressure sensitive labels, flexible packaging, and folding cartons with options for responsibly sourced materials and post-consumer recycled (PCR) content. Belmark offers 75% PCR in its open top trays, which, at a million units per year, can prevent 60,000 pounds of virgin plastic from being used (that's about 2.8 million water bottles worth of plastic). In addition, our eco-READY™ solution offers recyclable packaging options that clearly distinguish your brand as an environmental leader. Choosing a sustainable packaging solution like Sealutions™ can reduce your plastic footprint by about 35% just by switching from a clamshell to an open top tray with lidding film.
Success Story
See how Vertical Roots reduced costs and increased shelf life.
The Importance of Fruit & Vegetable Packaging
Gone are the days of corner fruit and vegetable markets with bushels of local produce to pick from. Today, shoppers are likely heading to their local grocer or big box store to shop for produce arriving from all corners of the globe (not just nearby farms). As a result, the supply chain needs secure, stable produce packaging to ensure that products can make it from farm to table, so to speak, without being crushed or suffocated before making it into a shopping cart.
Belmark can help maximize your product's shelf quality through pouches, roll stock, top seal, and lidding film which are all available with anti-fog coating.
Considerations to Make When Designing Produce Packaging
Flimsy, clumsy packaging and peeling, or fading labels can instantly signal poor quality and raise concerns for potential buyers. Putting your best foot forward as a produce brand demands a packaging solution that not only stands up to handling, transport, and presentation but also conveys branding consistently and clearly.
Handling
How does your product get from its source to its packaging? Is your product being picked directly into production, or will it be sitting in staging for some time? Knowing how your product will be handled can help maximize production efficiencies. And a solid QA process like Belmark’s patented laser perforation verification technology is invaluable in ensuring 100% quality of perforation size and presence.
Transportation
Knowing how your product will be transported can help determine the correct packaging type to ensure it survives the trip in good standing. When designing your fruit and vegetable packaging, you may need to consider variables like light, temperature, humidity, and pressure from air transport.
Presentation
Thoughtful packaging design and printing offer a valuable opportunity to convey and reinforce your brand. Using bold colors, strategic messaging, and specialty finishes elevate a brand and convey differentiation from competitors. Quality trumps all when it comes to produce packaging, and there is no room for shortcuts in building a beloved brand.
Additionally, emerging farming trends mean that proper packaging plays an even more critical role today by ensuring that produce stays freshly picked for more extended periods as delicate shipments make their way locally, nationally, and even internationally. We treat designing a produce packaging solution as a team effort. Consult a Belmark packaging expert to learn more about our fruit and vegetable packaging solutions and see how you can leverage our expertise in food safety and handling to help win hearts and stomachs at the store.
