PlantSeal®, a 100% plant-based alternative to individually-wrapped fruit in plastic removes 4,000 kg of waste per 100 containers of fruit.
Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in a global context. In this regard, reducing the use of plastic has become the responsibility of all companies in the agri-food sector. To address this challenge, Citrosol, the European company focusing on technology and post-harvest treatments for fruit and vegetables and Jaguar The Fresh Company, a globally operating fresh produce marketing company, have been collaborating to identify the best alternative for using plastic film in the supply chain for fresh produce. For this project, the project partners used PlantSeal, Citrosol’s own range of plant-based coatings that guarantees that fruit reaches its destination with the maximum quality.
Citrosol and Jaguar removed plastic wrapping from Jaguar’s pomelos that are exported from China to global destinations. Traditionally, most Chinese pomelos are wrapped in plastic film, and with each container holding 17,000 kg of fruit, approximately 40 kg of plastic film is used.
Raul Perello, International Operations Director of Citrosol: “This collaboration has enabled Citrosol to undertake extensive scientific studies, the results of which were presented at the first Circul-A-Bility Conference. Through the project ‘Advances to save the packaging plastic film in grapefruit’ we have demonstrated the advantages of PlantSeal as the best solution to replace the plastic film that is used to extend the commercial life of Chinese pomelos”.
Sven Thomas, Technical Manager of Jaguar The Fresh Company: “Our Group has a firm commitment to all aspects of sustainability. For decades we have placed product quality at the heart of our strategy. With this development we are now able to combine environmental aspects of removing plastic from the supply chain for pomelo, whilst maintaining the quality of the product. Together with Citrosol we have created a solid win-win situation. For every 100 containers of pomelos we are now able to remove 4000kg of plastic waste from the supply chain”.
Plantseal is suitable for vegan consumption, and does not contain any plastic components. The product achieves a high degree of weight loss control, minimizes rind disorders due to chilling injury, and delays the aging of fruit by reducing transpiration and respiration in a way that the quality of the fruit remains intact. Furthermore, it addresses the need to employ new methods to tackle export challenges with guaranteed results. PlantSeal® is currently in use at an industrial level, with the first containers arriving soon at different destinations. For growers, a main benefit of PlantSeal is that it creates access for fruit into markets that have limitations and requirements on the use of plastics.
For more information: 
Productos Citrosol S.A.
Partida alameda parc. C.
46721 Potries (Valencia) -España
Tel.: +34 96 280 05 12
citrosol@citrosol.com