Fruit Packaging

The way a fruit is packaged is determined by the type of fruit, how easy it is damaged, its shelf life, distance it is to be shipped, and its value. The high-value fruits are placed in trays that have pockets to hold individual fruits and are designed so that when they are stacked in a carton the fruits don't come in contact with one another. The less bruise-able fruits are hand-placed into cartons based on a pattern determined by the carton size and the fruit size and is designed so that the fruit fits in the carton with no room to move. This prevents fruit on fruit bruising during shipping.


If a fruit is not packaged in a facility at its picking site it is piled into trucks and transported to a packaging facility. Bruising and rotting is common during this process and limits the sellable product.


My thought is, why not have a product provide each fruit with its own plastic bubble? Such a device would create a protective air pocket around each piece of fruit and prevent all bruising. Less bruised product means more sell-able product and a higher profit margin. The fruit pocket could be made of a biodegradable recycled plastic and could either be circular or square. Such a pocket would allow all fruit to be piled into trucks and boxes without the worry of bruising. It would also eliminate the need for extra packaging material with delicate fruits. Another upside to such an addition to the fruit industry would be that when a fruit is to be shelved at a grocery store a stoker could just dump the fruit into its display bin instead of having to handle each piece of fruit.