New tech extends produce freshness at sea

[unhappycamper]

Sailors move fresh fruits and vegetables onto the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser San Jacinto.


New tech extends produce freshness at sea
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 18, 2008 15:12:34 EST

SAN DIEGO — The days of wilted lettuce and brown bananas at sea could be numbered.

This winter, the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan is serving as a test bed for a simple, innovative storage system that its makers say will keep produce fresh long enough to get the ship to the next underway replenishment.

While training off California recently, the Reagan loaded eight pallets of fruits and vegetables, including six of Romaine and iceberg lettuce, broccoli and bananas stored using Modified Atmosphere Packaging. The system includes plastic bags lined with a proprietary membrane developed by Apio Inc., of Guadalupe, Calif., designed to control the air flow in and out of the package. The remainder of the produce was stored in traditional packaging and served as the control group for the field test.

Overseeing the field trial is the Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command in Natick, Mass., which featured the packaging during the recent San Diego “West 2008” conference and expo sponsored by the U.S. Naval Institute and Armed Forces Communication and Electronics Association.

Officials hope to find a way to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, which would mean ships’ crews would have fresh produce at sea at least through the next replenishment, which typically occurs every 10-15 days.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/navy_veggies_080218w/