THERE IS millions of pounds being pumped into breeding and producing strawberries that last for a week; can be transported half way around the country, and taste better…
The first part of Gregg Wallace’s Supermarket Secrets series on BBC One focused on the summer months – and in particular the national battleground over one fruit.
“There’s one product right at the centre of the supermarkets’ battleground,” the Masterchef presenter told the audience, “and it’s this little fellow, the humble strawberry.”
Well Sirane can’t make your strawberries taste better… but we can certainly help them last more than a week, and arrive with the consumer in the best possible condition.
Simon Balderson, Sirane MD said, “As the show revealed, the UK strawberry season is now seven months and is huge business. Food packaging technology and innovation has an enormous part to play in ensuring strawberries arrive as fresh as when they were picked.
“Gregg Wallace told the programme that in the UK alone we eat 20 million strawberries a day. That means huge potential returns for companies investing in shelf-life technology.”
Simon Hinks, Sainsbury’s technical manager for fruit & vegetables, said the strawberry was the supermarket giant’s number-one-selling product during the fruit’s season.
“It’s a serious, serious business,” he told the programme, “on a huge scale.”
The programme revealed how new species are tested for, among other things, durability – as any bruising will not only put off the customer but also cause faster degradation.
Sirane recently released a product especially aimed at solving this problem.
Sirane’s Dri-fresh Resolve ‘Soft-hold’ pads combines the cushioning and protective properties of bubble films with effective absorbency, high permeability and excellent presentation.
“Soft fruit, including strawberries is often transported huge distances,” said Jeremy Haydn-Davies, sales director, “strawberries are shipped all around the UK, other berries brought in from much further afield, and so protecting the fruit is vital. The more fruit that arrives at its destination in perfect condition, the better it is for everyone involved.
“Sirane can offer the ultimate protection, bubble protection alongside absorbency.
“Fully compostable and available in various colours and sizes, Dri-fresh Resolve ‘Soft-hold’ is the perfect product for soft fruit protection. Soft-hold is available with integrated ethylene absorbing and anti-fungal properties for extending shelf-life in all applications.
“Soft-hold has been developed with distributors and retailers in mind, with an eye on the needs of the companies involved. Our customers have been telling us they want pads that offer more protection for the fruit, that extend shelf-life, and that are compostable.
“Soft-hold ticks all the boxes, and the feedback so far has been incredibly positive. It combines everything into one great product, with the cushioned layer offering that final level of protection that no other product on the market has managed.”
Dri-Fresh Soft-hold complements an already impressive list of products perfect for transporting or selling soft fruit, including Dri-Fresh Resolve and, Dri-Fresh Fresh-Hold pads and our incredible shelf-life extending film and bags, Sira-Flex Resolve.
Sirane’s Sira-Flex Resolve is a new, unique packaging film which has been developed to have the optimum balance between humidity control and O2 and CO2 permeability.
Strawberry trials undertaken by Sirane showed the stunning shelf-life extension that is achievable with Sira-Flex Resolve. The strawberries tested – bought from a supermarket – were still ‘perfect’ seven days after purchase – five days past the producer’s suggested shelf-life – and indeed were still very much edible after 13 days. Of equal significance was the fact that the strawberries still had absolutely no mould on them when the trials were finished.
Sandra Evans, sales manager for fruit and fresh produce, said: “After seven days the strawberries were still absolutely perfect and even after 13 days they could still have been sold with a view to eating them straight away. Strawberries are notorious for their short shelf-life, so this could be terrific news for strawberry growers across the world.
“Shelf-life film combined with our absorbent bubble pad would give strawberries the best possible chance of arriving with the customers as fresh as the moment they were picked.
“During the programme Gregg Wallace asked the question ‘so what is the secret to giving us the strawberries we want?’ Well the secret could be as simple as giving Sirane a call.”
Sirane is a highly innovative packaging product development-to-manufacture company based in Telford, Shropshire. It has four divisions: food packaging; medical and healthcare; industrial and horticultural. Specialisms include absorbency and cooking bags. Within food packaging, products for fresh produce are an ever-growing part of the range.
“The concept of our fresh produce range is simple,” added Jeremy, “We want customer’s fruit or vegetable to arrive with their ultimate customer in the best possible condition. For this they need the ultimate protection – and our range of products offers that.”
For more information, contact Sandra Evans on +44 1952 230055 or email jeremy@sirane.com
