Innovation


Andrew Lidtser, plant manager of Innovative Food Systems Corp.in Summerland with one of eight sizes of packaging produced by the operation.


SUSAN MCIVER Fresh approach to packaging


Rapid cooling and anti-microbial features allowmuch longer transport period and big drop in shipping costs.


By Judie Steeves I


t’s revolutionary technology that can keep fruit ripe and fresh for weeks during transportation


around the world, using a modified- atmosphere packaging. Perry Lidster of Innovative Food Systems Corp. is very excited about applications for the tree fruit and grape industries of the new anti- microbial, modified-atmosphere packaging his company is now beginning to manufacture in the Okanagan Valley. He’s enthusiastic about the potential


for cherries because it can cool the fruit much more efficiently than when using open boxes, and there’s less cardboard used than in current boxes.


Perry Lidster


It will permit growers to deliver, fresh, ripe fruit all over the world. “It’s an enclosed system, like a sanitation chamber, that allows gas to permeate all around the fruit. Fruit can be cooled very quickly, even when cartons are stacked on a pallet,î he explains. Cooling with some packaging can


take as long as three days to reach 1 C, but with this packaging, it can drop from 20 C to 1 C in just hours, he says.


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Spring 2012 “Our technology allows you to pick


riper fruit and it can be held for 21 to 29 days, so it can be shipped anywhere in the world by land and ocean instead of by air,” he says. The cost differences are staggering. Instead of $2.22 a pound by air, it can cost as little as 10 cents a pound by ground shipping. At the same time, the fruit doesn’t


lose moisture to dessication because it’s sealed in the box, and each box can be customized as to the amount of moisture and the box’s atmosphere, with more or less carbon dioxide or oxygen. The boxes can provide customized maturity, so pears such as the Anjou can be pre-ripened for retailers. Boxes are shipped to growers with a


small package of antimicrobial agent placed in a small depression in the lid after the box is filled with fruit and sealed. For small operations the agent is


place in the lid's depression by hand. For large operations the process can be mechanized. The company recently installed mechanical folding equipment at its Summerland location and it’s looking


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