One Australian entrepreneur with many years experience in the food packing industry has been working on a very substantial project based around 'healthy snacks on the go' for grapes with Fruitmaster, the largest grower of table grapes in Australia for the last 18 months.
"The request I had from the customer was to find a solution to de-stem, wash and pack grapes," explain Gilad Sadan - N.A.V.I Co. Global. "Through the process and and working under his instructions, I have put together a fully automated packing line which takes grapes and de-stems them automatically. Red and white grapes can go together on the the line which will wash, dry and pack them into 150g packs which are top sealed."
These handy packs are sealed with resealable film which can be opened and resealed up to 30 times. The punnets go through a metal detector and a final weigh check and are then packed into branded boxes. The grapes are packed with controlled atmosphere in the punnets.
Grape & Go
These ready to eat snack packs are branded Grape & Go, a play on the words grab and go.
"We choose packaging which is very colourful, very engaging, to grab the attention of the consumer. We were very mindful not go for just child orientated packaging. There is one grape character on the packaging so will appeal to kids, but also to adults - commuters, people on the way home from the gym, people on the train or in the office."
The company were able to break through the 21 day shelf-life barrier for the grapes, but came to realised that consumers don't want anything that is past the 7, 10 or 14 day mark as they think that it may have been treated with chemicals. Gilad choose to go for the 14 day mark, which they achieve by washing the grapes with an anti-bacterial solution and the modified atmosphere packaging.
"We have injected innovation in every step of this process, the line can handle 1000kg of grapes an hour and can pack 100 punnets per minute, a very fast and efficient packing rate."
Gilad sourced the machinery from 6 different countries to put the line together.
"The product has only been on the market in Australia for a few weeks and we have chosen a few selected partners to launch it with. It is going into service stations and convenience stores, some through major retailers, school networks and social media."
Gilad would like to expand this product in the Australian market first, but sees big potential in the Asian markets. "The high quality of Australian produce is well know in Asia and to have this packed in these convenient, bright and attractive packs is just what the increasingly urban Asian consumers want."
For more information:
Gilad Sadan
N.A.V.I Co. Global
Network.Advise.Value.Innovation
Tel: +61416526536
Email: gilad@navicoglobal.com
http://www.navicoglobal.com/
m.facebook.com/GrapeNGoAus/