Packaged salad in Fresh Express
Packaged salad in Fresh Express
Product Type: Vegetables – Packaged salad
Stage: Processing & Packaging, Handling & Storage
Problem:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that American families wasted up to 44% of the vegetables. Fresh lettuce tends to spoil and did not travel well. In addition, customer’s impediment to consuming salads is the effort related to cutting and washing, especially the waste of lettuce head.
Solution:
Fresh Express initially developed a gas formula that can keep vegetables fresh for about 10 days. The company then recognized that consumer would pay extra because they can eliminate the waste and save time for preparing. In addition, customer can even pay more for salads with different types of vegetables. They started to create bagged salad with several types of fresh-cut, ready-to-eat vegetables. The kit contains everything customers need for a bowl of salad, even the dressing.
About Fresh Express
Website: https://www.freshexpress.com/
1. Fresh at Every Step
The company uses the best seeds and harvests at the peak of ripeness. The just-picked vegetables are kept cool right after leaving the field by the advanced cold chain.
2. Breathable Bag, No Preservatives
The harvested vegetables are washed, rinsed, gently dried and it is sealed in a Keep-Crisp bad. These special breathable bags are designed to allow the right amount of oxygen in and carbon dioxide to escape. The bags keep the salad stays fresh longer than ordinary bags without any preservatives.
Since all salad leaves are not the same, the company uses different bags for different bagged salad leaves.
3. Rules of Safety
Fresh Express practice food safety by the 7 rules: 1) Growers and harvester must follow a Good Agricultural Practices; 2) Food Safety specialists inspect crop fields annually and conduct many product safety reviews; 3) Packing process follows FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act requirements including HACCP; 4) Employees are obliged to attend and conduct training sessions and seminars every year on food safety and quality; 5) The company use coordinated bar-code tracking technology for traceability; 6) Safe & Secure and each facility including in the fields, in plants, and during transportation and shipping; and 7) Prepare and response customer’s safety concern at speed.
4. Organic
The company provides organic products which have a USDA Organic label, it means it’s produced and processed according to USDA organic standards.
Resource:
David Zilberman, The Innovations Behind the New Food Revolutions. agriculture and resource economics, May 23, 2017.
Robert Lilienfeld, Spoiler alert: Packaging helps reduce No.1 source of food waste.Sustainable Packaging, November 01, 2017.
Peter Derksen, How pre-packaged fruit and vegetables can help reduce food waste. Nov 14, 2016.