Asparagus packing app:

Asparagus Packing App for accurate order filling & production

View Packing App Specifications.

ASPARAGUS PACKING TECHNOLOGY
Once harvested, asparagus spears are highly perishable. They also continue to develop after harvest making cool chain management essential. Wet hessian bags or weights are often placed on the top of asparagus-filled crates to prevent the horizontally laid spears from bending upwards in search of light before packing. Full crates are sometimes passed through a pre-wash to loosen any dirt or debris and help reduce any field heat before packing.

Traditionally, asparagus was sorted and packed manually. However most growers now have computerised grading systems. The spears are placed onto a header belt with all the spearheads touching the top edge so that they can be trimmed to a set length (24 or 25cm).



The spears are washed thoroughly with clean water, straightened and loaded into individual cups of the grader. Any spears with obvious defects are removed at this stage. A photo is taken of each spear and the computer measures the length and diameter of the spear and the presence of white on the butt, then it designates a chute where that spear will be released. Spears that are too short, or still have a white butt, pass through the line and are trimmed at a later stage. Spears are collected from the chutes and packed according to their grade and market destination. 

Asparagus packing app manages food safety

For export, loose and bunched spears are packed upright into specially designed wooden boxes. For the domestic market spears may be packed, loose or bunched, into polystyrene rectangular boxes. Alternatively they may be packed into recyclable ‘pyramid boxes’, which have a flared base to accommodate the asparagus butts that are thicker in diameter than the spearheads.


Once packed, the asparagus is hydro-cooled to remove any field heat and prolong shelf life and immediately placed in cool storage. Maintenance of the cool chain is vital to prevent continued growth of the spears and deterioration in quality and storage life. Pallets destined for export are sent by refrigerated transport to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane airports.


ASPARAGUS PACKING UK
Asparagus Grading
The asparagus is then trimmed to remove any white or toughness at the base of the stem and graded by thickness. We grade and pack by thickness to ensure that it cooks perfectly evenly. The spears are graded using the latest camera imaging technology.

Asparagus Packing
Our asparagus is predominantly bundled in 250g bunches, secured by rubber bands at the top and bottom of the bundle, finished with a branded wrap label with size and grade information. Sizes range from the thickest “Jumbo” (18mm+), through Extra Select (16-18 mm), Select (12-16 mm), Choice (8-12 mm) and Sprue (6-8mm). We also pack kitchen grade, which is mixed sizing 8-12 mm and 12-20 mm, and is just a little bit bent or slightly open-headed. Our graded asparagus can also be provided ‘loose’ in 3kg boxes. This is our standard and recognised packaging, but you can tell us exactly what you want and we can tailor our packing to your needs.

Asparagus Packing App for reduced food & fresh produce waste

Asparagus Storage
During the whole process, we ensure the temperature of our asparagus remains between 2° and 4°C to maintain its freshness. Once it has left our care, we ask customers to remember to store asparagus in a similarly cool place in order to enjoy it at its best.How Does Asparagus Grow?
Asparagus plants grow more like fruit trees, instead of like most other vegetables. Let me explain! When an asparagus plant establishes itself, it forms a crown underground. The roots grow from the crown, which is also where the buds form. Buds are crucial to the success of the plant since each bud results in one individual asparagus spear. Over time, the crown grows larger and larger because every time a new bud is formed, only one asparagus spear will form from that.

Asparagus Harvesting & Packing
To take a glimpse into the world of asparagus harvest and packing, see the detailed video below.



Asparagus Harvesting
Is all asparagus ready for harvest at the same time?
Since asparagus spears grow at random, an entire field is not ready for harvest at one time. The harvesters have to walk the fields and determine which asparagus meet the quality requirements (e.g., maturity stage, height) and are ready for harvest. The asparagus that are not yet ready for harvest will be left in the field, and the harvesters will return days later once those spears are ready for harvest. 

Asparagus packing app manages supplier food quality and traceability

Asparagus Harvesting - Selecting Spears
How is Asparagus Harvested?
The harvesting process consists of the workers walking through the fields with an asparagus knife and when the asparagus spear is ready for harvest, the workers slide the asparagus knife underneath the soil mound to make the cut. They do this because if they were to make the cut above the soil, the plants acts as though it will rejuvenate another spear from that same bud and continues utilizing plant resources to attempt to make that happen. However, as we learned previously, no two spears arise from the same bud.

Asparagus Harvesting - Using the Asparagus Knife
Once the spears are harvested, the workers place them into the harvesting buckets that they wear over their shoulders. Once those fill up, the harvesters empty them out on the soil mounds and form piles of asparagus. Another portion of the harvest crew goes through the field and picks up the asparagus and places them into bins, which are then transported to the packinghouse.

Asparagus Harvesting - Picking Up Harvested Spears
Asparagus Harvesting - Loading Asparagus Spears into Bins
Asparagus Packing
The asparagus arrive at the packinghouse in the field packed bins. From there, they are either ran through a manual packing line or an automated packing line. The goal of being ran through either packing line is to result in rinsed asparagus that is sorted into bunches based on the diameter of the asparagus spear. When the bunches are packed into boxes, they are packed by the size of the spear. You have probably never seen asparagus come in boxes like these, but they are just filled with the asparagus bunches that you buy at the grocery store.

Asparagus Packing - Packed Asparagus
Asparagus Packing - Packed Asparagus
Box Formation – The boxes are formed on site. They are then transported overhead to both the manual and automated packing lines for easy access to the packers.
Asparagus Packing - Box Formation
Bin Removal – The asparagus is manually removed from the field packed bins and placed on the packing line.
Asparagus Packing - Bin Removal
Initial Trim – The asparagus go through an initial trimming step to make them a more uniform length.
Asparagus Packing - Asparagus Spear Trimming