“Noida Packaging plant of Uflex has installed and commissioned two respiration meters at its fresh produce research and innovation laboratory. A team of food technologists and packaging professionals are in the process of developing 

 

Flexfresh across packaging formats. Flexfresh is currently available as liner bags in 5 kg and 10 kg standard international sizes, flow wraps, FFS film and lidding film,” added Siva Shankaran, vice president - Flexfresh. Uflex is 

 

currently working on a retail pack film to offer it for form, fill & seal (FFS) for both cut and whole products.

 

Existing fresh produce packaging solutions grapple with the problem of water condensation inside the bag. Also for products that perspired heavily, modified atmospheric packaging (MAP) did not work due to higher CO2 inside the bag 

 

changing the organoleptic of the produce. This is critical for fresh produce packaging because the oxygen needs to be maintained to keep the product in aerobic conditions. During transpiration, humidity gets released and condenses inside 

 

the bag causing fungal and bacterial infections on the produce.

 

“Thus was conceived Flexfresh with the holy grail of oxygen and water barrier for packaging fresh produce. Flexfresh while maintaining the humidity inside the bag at 98 percent, keeps the product absolutely dry without allowing 

 

condensation of the humidity. This results in very low weight loss of the produce as it continues to breathe in hydrated oxygen available inside the bag. The film provides good release characteristics of CO2 emitted by the produce.

 

This ensured that the produce in a few cases could be protected naturally from diseases such as Botrytis, Gray Mold etc using high CO2 content. The icing on the cake is that while offering all the benefits, Flexfresh film is 

 

biodegradable by composting,” commented Ashok Chaturvedi, chairman and managing director, Uflex Limited.

 

Uflex is working with several leading super markets around the world for establishing the benefits of Flexfresh in potatoes, Brussel sprouts, papaya, grapes, berries, pomegranates, flowers, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, mango, okra, 

 

mushroom, cut vegetables and several other products.

 

Uflex and its partner along with a leading institute of packaging will conduct a series of trials to study the advantages and benefits of using Flexfresh for shelf life extension. “The reports will help both the organisations to 

 

strategically work with big American farmers and exporters to extend the shelf life of their products in the most safest and sustainable way,” said Uflex in a press release.