StePac's avocado bags slow ripening so they ship by sea, not air

Avocados ripen within days and tend to ripen all at once, so a retailer faces a narrow sales window and wasted fruit. Exporters usually shipped by air, because sea freight left them overripe by arrival.

StePac's modified-atmosphere and modified-humidity packaging uses films that create a low-oxygen, high-carbon-dioxide, high-humidity microclimate, which slows respiration and the action of the ripening hormone ethylene while removing excess moisture.

The effect is ripening in the bag: avocados are packed at source and ripen in the same sealed package in a controlled way, which extends shelf life and cuts spoilage across the chain.

That lets a grower use slow, cheap sea freight instead of air. StePac commissioned Wageningen research showing the move extends shelf life and reduces greenhouse-gas emissions from the route.

Tune the bag's atmosphere to slow the fruit's biology

Slowing respiration and ethylene buys days of shelf life without making the cold chain colder.

A high-water-vapour film holds back condensation, so fruit doesn't soak and rot.

Because fruit ripens in the same bag, it is packed once at source and shipped or stored as needed.

Sea freight instead of air cut cost and carbon for the same trade route.

When speed is expensive, control the biological clock instead of the transport: packaging can move the problem from freight to the produce itself.

StePac's Xtend and Xgo films were adopted for avocados and other climacteric fruit, and a 2023 Wageningen study reported roughly 50-100% longer shelf life with less reliance on air freight. A plastic liner became a supply-chain lever rather than a wrapper.