Packaging Good Enough for Outer Space & Organics

PEAKfresh modified packaging material is currently circling the globe in the International Space Station extending the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, which can’t be replenished at a moment’s notice.  At the same time, pallet bags made from the same material are finding increased utilization by distributors of mixed loads of organic produce.

PEAKfresh Pallet Bags

Greg Ganzerla, PEAKfresh President, explained that NASA’s motivation is fairly straight forward.  With infrequent supply trips from earth to the Space Station, efforts must be made to give the astronauts a balanced diet and food that remains fresh as long as possible. NASA reached out to PEAKfresh over a year ago and tested its home use produce bags.  Ganzerla said under earth’s atmospheric conditions, produce stored in the bags has a shelf life two to three times longer than an item just held in a refrigerator crisper.  He does not know how the bag performs under zero gravity conditions, but he said NASA appears to be satisfied.

Greg Ganzerla, PEAKfresh President

For organic produce, which is often sold as part of a mixed load with varied temperature requirements, Ganzerla said PEAKfresh’s pallet bags offer the dual advantage of extending shelf life and helping to moderate the temperature.  He explained that shippers of organic mixed loads often use a paper wrap on a pallet to help protect temperature-sensitive items from the cold temperature.  He reasoned that a refrigerated truck typically heads across country at the lowest temperature required by one of the items inside.  That could easily be 40 degrees or less, even though there are other pallets of items that would prefer 50 degrees.

“We have found that many of our organic produce customers are finding great success bagging the pallet with one of our pallet bags and then wrapping the bagged pallet with paper,” Ganzerla said.  “Then they put a baseball-sized vent hole in the paper on each side to reduce condensation.”

Ganzerla explained that the paper wraps without the pallet bag can offer protection against the cold but they do not prevent dehydration, which tends to decrease shelf life. Adding the pallet bags creates an atmosphere that guards against dehydration.

As a practical matter, there is nothing inherent in organic produce that makes it better suited for pallet bags than conventional produce.  However, Ganzerla said that conventional produce is often shipped in larger lots allowing the distributor to group items with similar temperature requirements.  Organic produce is more often sold in smaller lots with a wider discrepancy in temperature requirements within one truckload.

“Some of these mixed load organic shippers have it all figured out,” he said. “They use our vented pallet bags and then wrap it with paper.”  He said the weight of the paper varies depending upon how much temperature variances there is between the truck and the requirements of the wrapped product.  Sometimes a single lay 30-pound paper is used, but often it is a much thicker piece with multiple layers of differing thickness.  “The 30-50-30 paper has become popular,” Ganzerla said.  “We are seeing great traction for our product and they are getting great results.”