Packaging of Foods in Consumer-Sized Units

Advances in packaging have been rapid. The new knowledge will be evident in many improvements affecting farmers, consumers, and marketing agencies. Packaging in consumer units is of help in low-cost, self-service methods of retailing, lowers spoilage in handling, and makes possible more sanitary conditions than when the food is handled in bulk. Packaging of staple products has become standard procedure, but packaging of highly perishable fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat is still in the experimental stage. The development of suitable transparent films has made the prepackaging of perishable food practical, because through them the buyer can see the food she is purchasing.

The housewife is accustomed to go to modern markets and select the packaged products from the shelves, but when she comes to the produce and meat departments she, or a clerk, has to select and weigh the products she wants. The satisfaction of the housewife varies with the number of other purchasers who have previously handled and selected from the produce displayed in the racks. Produce sold in this way is usually accompanied by a high proportion of waste for the retail store. When the fresh fruit and vegetables are wrapped in transparent films, most of the reasons for the objections are removed. When making her purchases, the housewife is able to obtain a more uniform quality and a more sanitary commodity than previously. Most prepackaged produce and meat have been trimmed and partly prepared for immediate cooking. This partial preparation keeps refuse out of the kitchen and saves housewives' time in preparation.

Fresh fruit and vegetables may be packaged at almost every stage of distribution. Any stage of distribution at which the operation is performed has certain advantages and disadvantages varying from one commodity to another. Packaging in the production area makes possible the preservation of the greatest amount of the food value of the products. It also makes possible the elimination of a great deal of waste that would otherwise be transported and sent through the channels of trade. Growers want to do the packaging in the producing area because they see possibilities in identifying their goods all the way to the table.

Packaging at the terminal has the advantages of a continuous operation throughout the entire year. The terminal operator can also more easily achieve the desired goal of having all of his produce packaged in consumer-sized units. Packaging at the terminal also makes possible a later check on the quality of the produce.

Much remains to be learned as to proper stage for packaging, the kind of materials to use, handling methods to be employed, and the proper way of refrigerating. The quality of packaged goods is of the greatest importance, because when the housewife buys them she expects to find all the contents of uniform quality. When bulk merchandise is displayed, a bad apple may be left in the basket and only good apples purchased. When these apples are sold in a closed package, the housewife pays for all the apples in the package regardless of whether they are all good or not. If, after making several purchases, she finds too many bad apples in the package, she will discontinue buying them.

Because consumer packaging- makes possible the branding of the packages, more care is likely to be given produce in its handling after the brand is put on a consumer package. This in itself will tend to improve greatly the marketing of perishables, because each handler now has little personal interest in the commodity after he has sold it to the next person in the marketing chain. Branded, packaged perishables will encourage the entrance into the field of wholesaling of more service wholesalers whose function is more one of seeing that the produce is sold in the best accepted methods rather than the present wholesaler's function, which is simply to supply retailers.

Prepackaged fresh meat has many of the advantages of prepackaged frozen meat. It is possible that cost of selling fresh meat prepackaged will be less than selling prepackaged frozen meat. Many of the difficulties encountered in selling prepackaged frozen meat will also have to be overcome by retailers who sell prepackaged fresh meat; prepackaged fresh meat has the disadvantage of turning dark when exposed to the light and is more perishable than frozen or uncut fresh meat.

The net cost of handling perishables packaged in consumer-sized units, compared to handling them in bulk, must be calculated all the way from the grower to the net quantity available to the housewife for cooking. With savings in transportation, waste, and retail store labor, the additional costs of cleaning and for packaging material will be largely offset by the saving. We also believe that the housewife will receive a greatly superior product if the prepackaged produce is properly handled from the grower through the marketing chain to the retail store. The net cost of prepackaging should be computed in terms of cost per nutritive unit rather than cost per pound of produce, that is, a pound of prepackaged snap beans when properly handled may be twice as nutritive as a pound of ordinary bulk beans.

New Developments in Transportation and Dehydration

The war has made possible the movement in volume of air freight, many new refrigerator cars of different design, and improved trucks.

The improvements in transportation are in the form of speed and better refrigeration. As refrigeration is improved, the need for greater speed is lessened; the reverse is also true. The speed of some truck deliveries and of most air-freight deliveries sometimes makes artificial refrigeration unnecessary. When produce is properly refrigerated, the rate of deterioration is greatly retarded, and properly refrigerated produce may retain its original quality as well for 2 weeks as unrefrigerated produce does for only a day.

Planeloads of highly perishable flowers, fruits, and vegetables have been moving from production areas to eastern consumption centers on a daily basis since 1946. This movement has been made possible because of the availability of the large number of surplus war cargo planes and the thousands of trained pilots and mechanics. Rates based on 70 cents a ton-mile have been reduced to rates based on 12 cents to 15 cents a ton-mile. At the higher figure there was little movement of perishables; now entire crops of some of the more highly perishable commodities are being moved. Air-freight rates for the next few years probably will be too high to move the bulk of the fruits and vegetables, but it is likely that most of the flowers and a large proportion of the most highly perishable fruits and vegetables will be carried by air.

Air transportation has made it possible to move many commodities field-grown flowers from the South and tropical fruits, for example-that formerly could not be shipped more than 200 or 300 miles from their production centers. Processors will be able more nearly to reach a goal of making produce "pot ready" in the production area when air transport is used than when any other existing method of transportation is used. Lima beans and peas may be shelled and packaged, sweet corn may be husked and packaged, spinach may be washed, selected, packaged, and delivered more successfully by the use of air transportation than by railway or truck. Air transportation of perishables is still in the experimental stage and its adoption by merchandisers will depend largely upon new developments in packaging and merchandising. The indirect benefit of air transportation to producers in the long run may be more beneficial than its direct effect; that is, air transportation may serve as a pace setter for surface carriers.

During the war a large number of refrigerator cars wore out and many of those that remained needed major repairs. The accumulated need for new cars made it more feasible than before the war for the car manufacturers and railroads to adopt new designs for refrigerator cars. New techniques that have already been proved have been incorporated into most of the new designs and, before a substantial number are built, additional improvements will no doubt be incorporated. These improvements make it possible to hold lower and more uniform temperatures at less cost than the units in the old cars. Truck owners are rapidly installing new and improved mechanical units that have certain advantages over the use of ice. Truck schedules and rail schedules are being speeded up in order to give better service to the shipper.

Dehydrated foods, because of their high nutritive value per pound of product, were in much demand during the war by Army officers. A considerable amount of research was done to improve the texture and flavor of the dried foods, but despite the improvements, most of them were poor substitutes for the fresh product. Dehydration is simply the preservation of food by the removal of most of the water in the product either by exposure to the sun, in which case the process is called drying, or by exposure to hot air or treatment in a mechanically heated drum, which is known as dehydration. Care must be taken in dehydrating produce to preserve as many of the vitamins as possible, prevent the processed product from acquiring any off-flavors, and to get a product that can be reconstituted satisfactorily. Generally speaking, some dehydrated products are inferior to fresh, frozen, or canned products in nutritive value and taste. Even though they are equal to fresh in taste and wholesomeness, their appearance prevents rapid acceptance by housewives. Dehydrated foods on the whole are less costly to process, store, transport, and retail per pound of edible product than are frozen or canned foods.

A limited market for special uses does exist for some of the dehydrated products, and for a few other uses the dehydrated product is superior to the fresh. For example, many housewives prefer dehydrated onion flakes to fresh onions. Dried fruit, such as prunes and peaches, have been generally accepted by consumers. Dried eggs, a relatively new product, are finding acceptance in prepared cake and ice cream mixes and on the breakfast table as scrambled eggs during the period of seasonal high prices of fresh eggs. Dried milk is also being used in prepared mixes as well as for cooking in place of whole milk.