Deccan Field Agro Industries from Bangalore, a well known papaya producer in Southern India, was looking for a perfect way to export their products and grow their market. They found a partner in Uflex Ltd., an Indian multinational company that offers end to end flexible packaging solutions, used for food, spices, meat etc. as well as catering to myriad industries. Besides Uflex Ltd’s wide range of global partners and certifications, it also boasts having state of the art packaging and film manufacturing facilities in multiple locations around the world.
Uflex Ltd also offers technological innovations such as AMAP (Active Modified Atmosphere Packaging) that uses Perfotec’s Fast Respiration Meter to determine the Respiration Rate of the fresh produce. Thereafter by using their (Perfotec’s) Laser system, Uflex makes micro perforations based on the respiration rate, weight and the target oxygen levels for creating the perfect modified atmosphere inside the liner bags that it manufactures, comprising a special patented polymeric composition.
Flexfresh™ Liner bag by Uflex Ltd is the only biodegradable solution that maintains the equilibrium of oxygen and carbon dioxide inside the bag, with an added advantage of keeping the product dry without losing weight. Given this, the Deccan Field and Uflex Ltd. started working on testing the respiration rate of papayas using the fast respiration meter, and have been designing this solution to extend the shelf life for up to four to five weeks. The Flexfresh™ Liner bags were used by being placed in a box before introducing the papayas. The papayas, prepared as per export requirements, were individually covered in foam nets to avoid any damage to the fruit during transportation.
Deccan Field and Uflex are pioneers in their respective industries. By sending 40 foot refrigerated containers to Dubai. via the Mangalore Sea port, these companies broke several records: the first container of Indian papayas to be exported, the first container sent from Mangalore port for fresh fruits and the first container to be received in Dubai only containing papayas.
The containers were sent to Dubai during the month of Ramadan. The entire container was finished within a couple of days, with supermarkets and fruit wholesalers very happy with the quality of the papayas. Because of the high demand for the fruit, Deccan Field’s importing partner, Southern Star LLC, required additional shipments too.
Both companies have been very pleased with each other’s performance during their first project together. Deccan Field has been impressed with Uflex’s AMAP solution, being able to deliver freshness for a wide variety of fresh produce in India and abroad. According to Siva Shankaran, Vice President Flexfresh, “Customers have begun packing in Flexfresh when the supplies are high, in order to preserve the product for a longer period of time and only releasing them when the supply is low, allowing them to extend the availability and also reduce their losses.”
Chairman and Managing Director, C.P. Yogeeshwara of Deccan Field has also expressed his satisfaction at his company’s successful project with Uflex. The partnership has been a success according to him, “It is because of Uflex’s professional approach and their support in providing the most optimized packaging solution for our fresh produce.” Yogeeshwara adds, “We are now planning to export other fruits and vegetables such as Bengaluru baby bananas, green chillis, sweet potatoes, curry leaves, French beans, small onions, Ivy gourd, etc., and by using Flexfresh liner bags by sea to different destinations, specifically to areas with large Indian populations in the Middle East and Europe.
Pleased by the partnership and recent accomplishments, Uflex ltd’s Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Chaturvedi said, “We are able to offer superior and optimized packaging solutions to exporters of fresh produce, which cater to Indian citizens all over the world. Our company continues to pave the way to the curtailing of food wastage, which is currently a pressing need across the world.”
