Packaging cuts fresh green bean waste
The US foodservice industry is discovering the benefits of receiving fresh green bean supplies in lean, modified atmosphere bulk packaging (MAP) newly developed by sustainable packaging experts StePac. The company’s solution under the brand name Xtend targets food waste in the foodservice supply chain and delivers added benefits of preserving the quality, crispiness, and glossy green color of fresh green beans while maintaining full fresh flavour.
Green beans are grown in South Florida and Tennessee, with peak season from November to May. A large percentage of the green beans are packed and shipped to the foodservice industry. But fresh green beans have a short shelf life of around 8 to 12 days. Dehydration, a common post-harvest problem, causes the pods to shrivel and become limp from progressive weight loss and plastic packaging is often used to reduce this waste.
However, excess moisture generated in standard packaging aggravates decay and russeting — reddish-brown spots that result from chilling injury when beans are stored at 5-7.5°C (41-45°F). Foodservice outlets must discard food supplies that do not meet specifications for appearance and quality and are rendered unfit for consumption. While both of the packing beans have the same use in the packaging industry, the solubility differences show that they are made of very different materials. The concept of "like dissolves like" is used here. The Styrofoam bean is oil-soluble (dissolves in acetone), thus it is derived from oil and is a synthetic polymer. The starch-based bean dissolves in water, and is therefore a naturally occurring polymer. While this solubility test generally works to separate synthetic from naturally occurring polymers, there are a few exceptions. A synthetic polymer with many alcohol (-OH) or amine (-NH2) groups can be rather water-soluble. An example is polyvinyl alcohol. More detail can be provided at the high school level for this discussion about the chemical composition and solubility of macromolecules.
A One-Stop Flexible Packaging Shop
With machines, materials and service all under one roof, Fres-co’s system approach provides single source, flexible solutions for your every bean packaging need. Our food experts have decades of industry-leading experience and will work with you to customize packaging that protects the integrity of your bean products throughout production and distribution. Have a particularly tough challenge? As packaging pioneers and inventors, we thrive on them. We’ll guide you through the move from cans to flexible packaging, and we’ll do it with reliable, built-to-last machines that can manufacture a wide range of package sizes.
The Convenient, Cost-Efficient Flexible Alternative to Cans
Higher quality bean products can go hand-in-hand with lower costs, greater safety and ease of use, less waste and a more environmentally friendly footprint. It just takes the right flexible packaging! Bean products in pouches require shorter cooking time than those in cans, resulting in better taste, texture and nutritional value. Lighter weight pouches also take up less space, meaning you’ll enjoy lower freight and storage costs. With “grab and go” ease, pouches are quicker and safer to open and handle. (No more ragged can edges, metal fragments or rusty can openers!) They use less material and energy to produce and take up less space in dumpsters and landfill.
StePac developed modified atmosphere packaging films inbuilt with ideal water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) that eliminate the excess moisture from fresh green bean packaging, mitigating risk of decay and reducing sensitivity to russeting. The company’s proprietary solution also preserves the crispiness and glossy green color of fresh green beans and prevents excessive weight loss caused by dehydration.
Food waste is an estimated $100bn problem within the hospitality sector alone, reports Winnow, producers of a device that monitors food waste in commercial kitchens. “Food waste in the foodservice sector is a major challenge, affecting the entire global food value chain,” notes Gary Ward, Ph.D., Business Development Manager for StePac. “Our technology offers a solution for helping curb that waste and enhancing the quality of the produce reaching the kitchens. It also isn’t limited to green beans but extends to a range of other vegetables, such as peas, carrots, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and others that are freshly bulk packed exclusively for the foodservice sector.
StePac’s packaging solutions can help increase the shelf life of green beans and other vegetables, often by as much as 50-100 per cent, and allows foodservice providers to serve vegetables cooked from higher quality fresh produce, more sustainably and with reduced waste.
StePac offers a range of films that cater to nearly every requirement. In addition to Xtend carton liners, its groundbreaking Xflow films, with their patented sealing layer, have facilitated applicability for automated packaging, such as vertical form-fill and seal (VFFS) packing. This lets the packaging of green beans and other vegetables meet the demands of high turnover facilities and is already gaining momentum within facilities in regions of the US, especially Florida.
“The new Xflow packaging supports high-speed, high-throughput automated packaging lines for fresh vegetables; supports distributors and growers; and better meets the needs of hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and other institutions across the US,” adds Ward. “Foodservice sites can receive enhanced quality produce while enjoying the benefits of reduced labor costs.”
This solution for automated packing of fresh green beans for foodservice applications adds to the comprehensive portfolio of packaging solutions StePac offers for fresh vegetables. The portfolio includes bulk carton liners, preformed bags (including standing pouches for retail applications) as well as films for VFFS, flowpack and topseal for retail packaging formats.
Bean packing tech:
Have you ever noticed bagged produce at the grocery store labeled “ready to eat” or “washed”? Do you still wash the produce once you get home or do you eat it right out of the container?
Table of Contents
Washing Produce at the Packinghouse/Processor
Produce is washed in one of two ways:
Sanitized Wash Water
Common Sanitizers Used to Wash Fruits and Vegetables
What Does it Mean When Lettuce Containers are Labeled as Having Pre-Washed Lettuce?
What Does it Mean When Lettuce is Labeled as Triple Washed?
Frequently Asked Questions
Washing Produce at the Packinghouse/Processor
It is common for produce to go through a postharvest rinse prior to arriving at the grocery store. Produce is washed in order to clean the produce, and to remove any microbial contaminants (e.g., Listeria, Salmonella, E. Coli 0157:H7). In order for a piece of produce to go through a wash step, it needs to be durable enough to withstand the washing and to maintain its desired shelf-life at the grocery store (e.g., blackberries could not withstand a wash step). Some examples of produce that go through a wash step include apples, oranges, cherries, peaches, plums, avocados, baby carrots, etc.
When harvested produce is transferred to the packing house, the wash step occurs near the start of the packing line after the product has been dumped onto the line. However, produce can also be washed in the field postharvest.
Produce is washed in one of two ways:
Using recycled/reused water, where the same water is used with multiple bins of produce that are dumped onto the packing line prior to being switched out.
Using a single-pass system, where the water from a spray bar (or something similar) is used only once.