Adding to the drive to reduce food packaging, Belgian supermarket chain, Delhaize, has announced that it will be replacing individual packaging for organic fruits and vegetables with a bio label fixed directly on each product.
With organice produce accounting for 10% of vegetables and 7% of fruit sold each year, the retailer says the measure should save on thirteen tonnes of packaging a year.
Addressing one of the questions that has vexed shoppers for a long time, Delhaize explained that organic produce has historically been individually packaged so it can be distinguished from conventional fruits and vegetables that are sold in bulk.
From now on, some organic products will be branded using a laser, so that no glue, ink or other material is required to mark and distinguish the product. The branding is superficial, extending to the outer layer of the skin, and thus, the company says, has no effect on the product’s flavour, fragrance or preservation.
The company is rolling out the technique over the course of the next few months, starting with butternut squashes, so that it should be applied to up to 20 products by summer. They point out that some, such as tomatoes, are not suitable as their skin is too fragile.
