New packaging could boost pear sales, packer says

Pear packers could increase sales by offering more packages of various weights, and a tray pack as an alternative to hand-wrapped pears, Dick Duckwall, retired president of Duckwall-Pooley Fruit Company, Hood River, Oregon, said at the Washington State Horticultural Association's convention.

Duckwall said retailers would probably prefer tray packs, so they do not to have to remove the paper wraps from the pears in the store.

According to a report by Dr. Gene Kupferman, postharvest specialist with Washington State University, the advantages of tray packs include the ability to automate packing, and a reduction in packaging material. Tray packing may also reduce bruising at retail, as the pears are handled less when they don't need to be unwrapped.

Tray packing has been done successfully by several shippers, including Duckwall-Pooley, but other packers have been concerned about scald, decay, and shrivel in tray-packed fruit.

In experiments, Kupferman found that tray-packed pears were of better quality than hand-wrapped pears after long-term storage. Firmness was slightly higher, there was less dark skin discoloration, weight was the same, and bruising was less. The cooling rate of either hand-wrapped or tray-packed pears was about the same.

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New packaging could boost pear sales, packer says

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