A new packaging technology useful for keeping strawberries fresh during long-distance ocean transportation was developed by the Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center, based at Koshi city in Kumamoto prefecture, operated by NARO or the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization.
An efficient packaging technology with a special package and a tray has been developed by NARO’s Agricultural Research Institute for a long-distance strawberry shipment by ocean.
The new packaging system has been worked out with a combination of a special tray for perishable strawberries and a packaging material used for preserving freshness of vegetables and fruits in longer periods.
Shipping by ocean is much cheaper than shipping by air. The development of the new packaging technology for long-distance strawberry shipment by sea is now expected to make a major contribution to a further increase in fresh strawberry exports.
NARO’s Research Center implemented an ocean shipment test from Fukuoka to Singapore to check the decay and damage of strawberry fruits.
Decays and damages of strawberries packed with the new technology during the transportation by sea were reduced by as much as 70 percent less than those packed with ordinary materials.
Those decays and damages were also reduced by 60 percent or more than those of strawberries packed with the ordinary materials that were transported by air between the two cities.
It is also found out that strawberry fruits packaged with the new technology had a longer shelf life at a store in Singapore.
Costs for shipping by sea are very low, ranging from one third to one tenth of those for shipping by air.