Fruit applications
Apples - Royal Gala, Braeburn, Pink Lady
- The storage or seafreight time before the Royal Gala apples become unacceptably soft and/or begin to lose flavour is appreciably extended.
- The honey sweet flavour of Royal Gala is retained for much longer than normal storage.
- The onset of ‘waxiness’ is similarly retarded.
- When use of 1-MCP may cause flesh discolouration, then use of LifeSpan provides an alternate method to maintain flesh firmness with no negative side-effects.
- The liners work equally well with many other varieties but should be tested in each case.
Apricots
- Retention of flesh firmness.
- Slowing of skin colour change and ripening of the fruit.
- Some varieties of apricot can be stored for 4 weeks in LifeSpan, but packers must undertake trials with their fruit to determine maximum storage time before onset of tainting in the fruit.
Avocado
- Suppression of ripening and skin colour change for up to 8 weeks if stored at 3°C.
- Early season fruit usually stored at 6°C can be held firm and green in LifeSpan for 6 weeks.
- Even colouring of all fruit when removed from the LifeSpan box liner.
- Suppression of rots during storage.
Bananas
- Fruit is kept fully green and firm for up to 6 weeks.
- When ripening at 18°C the fruit ripens fully and evenly.
- Distribution of bananas and allowing for ethylene gassing and ripening in the bags.
- Fruit can be maintained hard and green for 2 to 3 weeks after harvest and before gassing.
- Gassing of the bananas in the sealed bags.
- After gassing, fruit ripens very evenly and at a slower rate than in air, allowing extended distribution time to the retail outlets and shelf display.
Blueberries
- Retention of moisture and firm texture.
- Retention of skin colour and bloom.
- Fruit flavour is preserved.
- Suppression of fungal growths.
Cherries
- Retention of green and flexible stems.
- Retention of skin colour and gloss.
- Retention of firm texture with very little moisture loss.
- Retention of fresh taste.
- Negligible rots or fungal growths.
- LifeSpan is also available for 2 kg packs.
Grapes
- Designed to be able to be packed prior to cooling while minimising condensation related injuries.
- Suppression of Botrytis.
- Minimisation of Sulphur induced injury and taste improvement and can be achieved by reducing Sulphur dosage in conventional grapes.
- Maximisation of storage life for organic grapes.
Kiwi
- Retention of fresh taste
- Retention of firm texture and flesh colour.
- Suppression of fungal growths.
Melons
- Maintenance of fresh appearance for at least double the normal storage period.
- Suppression of rot growths.
- Prevention of moisture loss.
Nectarines
- The nectarines maintain their firmness, colour and maturity as packed.
- They fully ripen over 5-10 days after outturn, achieving optimum eating quality.
- Harvesting can be closer to full maturity than normal export fruit, resulting in improved colour and sugar levels.
- Sea freight exports to most distant markets are now possible.
- Many successful shipments have been conducted with many “good keeping” varieties of both white flesh and yellow flesh varieties. In each geographic location it is important to test each variety to ascertain its suitability to MAP.
Peaches
- Retention of moisture in the fruit, preventing the sponge-like feel that may develop with peaches.
- Maintenance of flesh firmness, allowing harvest to occur closer to full maturity, resulting in better eating fruit.
- Storage to cover short-term imbalances in market supply/demand can be useful in maximising sales returns with peaches.
Pears
- Up to 12 weeks after packing in LifeSpan and storage below 4°C, the pears remain green and hard.
- On outturn, they will fully colour and soften in 7-14 days.
- After 3-5 months stored below 4°C storage the Williams Pears in LifeSpan remained green and hard.
- On outturn, they ripened normally over 6 days.
- LifeSpan has been successfully used on many other varieties of pears, including Buerre Bosc, Forelle and Comice.
Persimmon/caqui
- Retention of skin colour and gloss.
- Retention of firm texture with no moisture loss.
- Negligible rots.
Plums
- A storage or seafreight time of up to 6-8 weeks depending on variety, is possible without loss of eating quality in the plums. Good quality Angeleno plums can be stored for up to 3 months.
- At outturn, the plums maintain firmness and taste as packed.
- LifeSpan is used commercially on a wide range of varieties of plum, however there are differences in performance between varieties and users should conduct tests to determine suitability in each case.
Pomegranates
- Maintenance of weight and prevention of moisture loss and softening of the pomegranates.
- Suppression of rots and moulds, both in the crown and within the main body of the fruit.
- Slowing of the onset of skin blemishes, including scald.
- Maintenance of the internal quality of the fruit ahead of processing.
Prunes
- Fruit retains its sweet flavour, good colour and firmness.
- Good quality fruit is able to be exported to all major Asian markets successfully by seafreight.
- Harvesting is at full maturity resulting in improved colour and sugar levels.
Strawberries
- Suppression of botrytis growths.
- Maintenance of berry firmness.
- Maintenance of skin appearance and general “freshness” of the berries.
- Maintenance of flavour and no tainting of the berries if there are minor excursions in temperature management.
- Retention of green calyx.
- Long market shelf life after strawberries are removed from LifeSpan packaging.
Carton liners for 12-14 kg, and 20 kg cartons of Apples stored below 3°C are available.
Benefits for Royal Gala Apples include:
Benefits for Braeburn and Pink Lady Apples include:
Carton liners for 5 kg of apricots are available.
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Carton liners are available for 4 kg and 10 kg boxes of Hass variety.
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Carton liners for 12 kg and 18 kg of bananas are available. There are 2 completely different applications.
Maintenance of hard, green bananas for extended periods after harvest. Export use has eliminated the need for ethylene absorption in storage up to 6 weeks at 14°C.
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Carton liners for punnets of total weight between 1.5 kg and 8 kg being stored at 0°-2°C, for at least 10 weeks, are available. Pallet shrouds are in widespread use, with the majority used for storage of blueberries at the packing facility. Storage can be of graded fruit and also of harvested fruit prior to grading. There are very low losses associated with storing ungraded blueberries in LifeSpan for up to 3 weeks after harvest.
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Cherries LifeSpan carton liners are being used successfully for 5 kg-10 kg cartons of cherries being sea-freighted or stored at 0°-2°C. Shelf life is dependent on variety with long keeping varieties achieving up to 8 weeks. Liners are also available for packing a full range of trays holding punnets or clamshells.
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LifeSpan carton liners can be used both for optimising both organic and conventional grape storage. LifeSpan products have been accepted as part of the organic certification process by growers and packers in many countries. Carton liners for 4-5 kg and 9-10 kg of white seedless, red seedless as well as seeded grapes are available. Storage at 0°-2°C for 3-6 weeks for organic grapes and up to 8-10 weeks for conventional grapes are achievable. Results are dependent on the grape quality and variety.
Trialling and careful monitoring is essential. Formats in 30x40 cm and 60x40 cm box footprints are available for 4-5 kg packing weights. For 9-10 kg packing weight 60x40 cm box footprint are available.
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Carton liners for 10-20 kg cartons of freshly harvested kiwi fruit being stored at 0°-2°C for at least 4 months are available. Separate designs exist for use with Hayward kiwifruit after several months of CA storage. Packed in LifeSpan, quality is maintained for up to a further 10 weeks.
Amcor is progressively introducing high performance designs for yellow kiwifruit, as these have different post harvest responses to Hayward. Currently there is a specific design for use with Jintao. Other varieties are being assessed.
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LifeSpan carton liners and pallet shrouds are available for use with melons. They have proven beneficial when used with cantaloupe and honeydew melons.
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LifeSpan carton liners for 5-12 kg cartons of nectarines being sea-freighted at 0°- 3°C are available.
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LifeSpan carton liners for 5-12 kg cartons of peaches being sea-freighted at 0°-3°C are available.
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Packham: LifeSpan carton liners for 13 kg and 20 kg cartons of Packham Pears removed from CA storage are available. The use of LifeSpan after CA storage can continue the benefits for an extended period, thus allowing seafreight of the pears. Other varieties can also benefit from the use of LifeSpan after CA but must be individually tested in each location.
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Williams (WBC) / Bartlett: The LifeSpan carton liner is available for William Pears stored below 4°C.
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Persimmon / Caqui LifeSpan carton liners for 25 lb (12 Kg) of Fuyu persimmon being stored at 0°C to 2°C are available.
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LifeSpan carton liners for 5-12 kg cartons of plums being stored at 0° - 2°C are available.
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LifeSpan carton liners, pallet shrouds and various size bin liners are all available for use with pomegranates. The smallest box liner holds 4 kg of fruit, the largest bin liner holds 400 kg, and pallet shrouds can hold up to 1000 kg. Storage periods up to 3 months have been established with cv. Wonderful pomegranates, with fruit in completely marketable condition at the end of the storage period.
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LifeSpan carton liners for 10-13 kg of Sugar Plum being sea-freighted or stored at 0° - 2°C for up to 35 days are available. Both D’Agen and Moyer varieties are been successfully shipped.
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LifeSpan pallet shrouds and box liners are available for all strawberry pallet formats. The modified atmosphere is created by the respiration of the strawberries. There is no need for gas flushing, but gas flushing can be used if this method is preferred by the packer. Storage periods of up to 3 weeks are possible with berries that have low loadings of botrytis. Storage of 2 weeks is achievable with most lines of strawberries.
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