Packaging of banana

1. Dr. R. T. Patil
Director,
Central Institute of Post Harvest
Engineering and Technology, Ludhiana
Modern Packaging Techniques with Special
Reference to Banana

2. Production & Post Harvest Scenario
•Agriculture contributes about 17.5% of GDP,
employees 57% workforce and sustains approx
over 70% of the population
•India produces about 230 million tons of food
grains (10% losses) and 53.1 and 91.6 million
tons (about 25% losses) of fruits and vegetables
and ranks second in world
•Low level of processing of fruits and vegetables
at only 2% .
•Food processing is employment intensive,
creates 1.8 jobs directly and 6.4 indirectly for
every US$ 25000 investment

3. Post Harvest losses (%) of Horticultural Crops at
various Stages of Handling in Assam
(2001-02)
Crops Transport Marketing/ Storage Retailer Total
loss(%) Wholesaler
Orange 1.25 1.20 7.50 13.95
Pineapple 1.95 2.66 2.37 9.25
Banana 10.00 5.00 7.00 22.00
Ginger 1.50 2.75 2.50 10.50
Tomato 11.00 2.50 7.25 10.50
Cauliflower 7.50 1.75 3.75 15.75
Spine Gourd 4.30 1.80 2.70 17.10
Pointed Gourd 7.50 1.90 2.10 16.90
Source: AAU, Jorhat 2005

4. Reasons for Losses
1. Handling of raw produce through many stages of
middlemen.
2. Processing is mostly controlled by urban rather than rural
entrepreneurs which leads to losses in valuable by
products.
3. Non availability of adequate and efficient equipment and
machinery to be used in catchment areas.
4. Low level of entrepreneurial urge in rural areas due to
constraints of finance, assured market and proper training
on technology
5. On the whole, there exists a fragmented and inefficient
value chain
Higher the Value Addition Better the PH
Management and Lower Will Be Losses

5. Unit Operations in Post Harvest
Management
Fruits and Vegetables
•Preharvest treatment
•Harvesting at Maturity
•Safe harvesting
•Pre cooling & washing
•Surface drying
•Cool/cold storage
•Safe transport
•Safe handling

6. Agro Entrepreneurship

7. Agro Entrepreneurship

8. Careful Handling
•As much as possible care is taken that it does not hit the ground.
•For packing and transportation the bunch is padded with banana
leaves.
•A fungicidal treatment is applied to cut ends to prevent stem end
rot.
•After the paste dries, bunches are put into polythene tubes (175
gauge, 55 cm wide, with 1.8 cm diameter holes 10 cm apart). T
•he bunches are then stacked vertically or horizontally on the
ground added with wilted or dry banana leaves in case there is
delay in transportation.
For exports,
•bananas are removed from the stem and hands and clusters of
the bananas are packed in corrugated boxes with perforated
polyethylene liners.
•The curved side of the hands is kept facing upwards making sure
that the crown of the upper hands do not damage the banana
underneath.

9. Marketing
•At destination the bunches of Dwarf cavendish,
poovan etc. are dehanded and sold in retail outlets,
whereas in the marketswhole bunches as such are
marketed.
•In Tamil Nadu, Hill banana 'Virupakshi' is dehanded
in the plantation itself and are packed in small lots of
500 fruits each and marketed in Madras and
Dindigul.
•In Kerala, the Nendran bunches are marketed as
whole bunches itself. Often male buds are not even
removed to give a better show for the whole bunch
during festive seasons.

10. Principles of Packaging
• Containment for handling, transportation and
use.
• Preservation and protection of the contents for
required shelf life.
• Protection from external environmental and
mechanical hazards
• Identification of contents, quantity, quality, and
manufacturer.
• Food safety and quality retention
• Facilitation of dispensing and use
• Ease of opening. re-closure, portioning
application, second use or re-use

12. Modified Atmosphere Packaging of Banana
• The positive effect of MAP on peel spotting was
accompanied by reduced in vitro phenylalanine ammonia
lyase enzyme (PAL) activity in the peel, and by an
increase of in vitro polyphenol oxidase (PPO; catechol
oxidase) activity. They concluded that senescent spotting
of banana peel required high oxygen levels. The reason
for low spotting at low oxygen levels may be due to
increase of in vitro PPO activity apparently showing an
increase in potentially active protein.
• Modified atmosphere reduced the chilling injury
symptoms and reduced CI-induced peel browning.
• The pulp softness, sweetness and flavour of MA-packed
fruit were better than in control fruit.

13. Amcor P-Plus modified atmosphere
packaging (MAP) technology
• Amcor P-Plus MAP technology works by tailoring
the gas permeability of the flexible film to extend
the life of fresh produce by naturally creating a
modified atmosphere. In this case the Amcor P-
Plus MAP technology gives an extra 2 days shelf
life on the bananas over standard non MAP
bags. The specialized wicketted bags are
produced from a recyclable material and an
antimist system is utilised so that full visibility of
the product is achieved. The bags are Amcor P-
Plus treated and flexo printed.

14. Temperature-Activated Intelimer
Polymer based Packaging Technology
• It is a intelimer polymer based packaging technology
where the polymer customizes abruptly to change its
physical characteristics when heated or cooled through a
pre-set temperature switch.
• The baglike package is made of a customized membrane
that controls the rate at which oxygen enters and carbon
dioxide leaves, maintaining the optimal gas mix.
• It is new addition to a series of active, controlled and
intelligent packaging products such as oxygen
scavengers, antimicrobial films and gas permeable.
• Extended shelf life with higher quality taste, smell, and
appearance of fresh produce

15. Vacuum Packaging of Banana
• To delay ripening of fruits is achieved through
vacuum packaging so that bananas are
prevented from contact with air/ oxygen. This
delays ripening up to 21 days and further ripening
can be completed with in one week after opening
the package. The process standardized at TNAU
requires capital of Rs. 100,000 and cost
operation is only Rs. 15/h with 0.5 hp power
requirement.
• Patented method of vacuum packaging and
freezing of bananas prevents discoloration of
bananas during storage, and thus does not
require use of artificial colorants

16. Post Harvest Management & Value Addition of
Bananas
•The bananas are transported as
bunch padded with banana leaves.
•A fungicidal treatment is applied to
cut ends to prevent stem end rot.
•For exports, bananas are removed
from the stem and hands and
clusters of the bananas are packed
in corrugated boxes with perforated
polyethylene liners.
•The curved side of the hands is
kept facing upwards making sure
that the crown of the upper hands do
not damage the banana underneath.
•Hands are graded based on the
number and size of fingers in each
hand.
•In the cold storage, bananas are
stored at 13-14°C with 90-95%
relative humidity.
Value added products
Banana Flower Pickle, Banana Chips, Banana
Fruit Pickle, Banana Fig, Banana Ready to Serve
Juice, Unripe Banana Powder

17. Two Stage Evaporative Cooler
• The cooler is portable and 1.5m x
1.0m x 2.0m in length, breadth and
height
• The developed two stage evaporative
cooler could be able to drop the
temperature up to the wet bulb
depression and to 90 % relative
humidity.
• The effectiveness of the two stage
evaporative cooler ranged from 1.1 to
1.2 over the single evaporation.
• The hourly cooling capacity of TSEC
ranged from 2125 to 4500 W

18. Mobile Cool Chamber (2006-07)
Developed for short duration
storage and transportation of fish
for retail marketing. The insulated
box was designed such that it
could hold 8 plastic crates of size
540x360x295 mm in two layer of
four each for keeping fish. The
total capacity of storage was 150
kg of fish with 80% filling of each
plastic crates and 1:1 ratio of ice
and fish. It costs around Rs.
18,000-20,000/- and can be used
for fruits and vegetables also.
Seven units were distributed to various fisheries institute (CIBA
Chennai, CIFT Cochin, NBFGR Lucknow, CIFA Bhubneshwar, CIFRI
Kolkatta, CIFRI Guwahati and CIFE Mumbai) for field trial

19. Evaporatively Cooled Room for Storage of
Fruits and Vegetables
Compared on the basis of 10%
physiological loss in weight (PLW) the
shelf life inside the room was 34 days
for early kinnow, 23 days for late
kinnow, 11 days for cauliflower and 4
days for spinach as compared to 21,
11, 5 and 2 days respectively in an
ordinary room at the same time.
The cost of the chamber is Rs. 50000 and capacity is 2 tonnes. This
technology has been transferred to 3 farmers for on farm use.
•An evaporatively cooled (EC) room (3x3x3m. size) was developed
for on-farm storage of fruits and vegetables.
•The summer temperature inside the EC room was 5-8C lower than
that inside the ordinary room and winter temperature was 5-8 C
higher than that inside the ordinary room.

20. Porous Bricks
• Lower dry weight
• Higher water absorption
capacity
• Better rate of evaporation
from its surface
Plant & machinery: Brick kiln, Power : Coal,
Manpower:100 Bricks per person, Capacity: Same as
that of Brick Kiln, Raw materials: Brick earth, Crop
Residues, Water

21. CIPHET Evaporative Cooled Storage Structure
(2006-07)
• Storage of fruits and vegetables
• Evaporatively Cooled Structure (ECS)
maintains a moderate low temperature
and sufficiently high relative humidity for
short term storage of fresh fruits and
vegetables.
• Advantages
 Low level consumption of
electricity
 Less initial investment
 Negligible maintenance cost
• Features
– Special design of roof, orientation
– Uses wetted pad as cooling medium
– 20oC below the outside temperature
– An ECS of about 5 -7 tonne storage
capacity may cost about Rs. 1.5 –
1.8 lakh.

22. Natural rest handling of banana
for longer shelf life

23. Nicely washed and cooled bananas store well

24. With high cost, the individual fruit
packing could be a reality

25. CFB Packaging of Banana

26. Modified Atmosphere Packaging of Banana

27. Modern Packaging of Banana

28. Recommendations
• Proper washing system should be developed for field heat
removal and removing microbial load at production
catchment
• The bubble packaging may be used for packaging of bunches
to avoid damage during transport
• Proper tool be used to remove the comb/hand of the bananas
before ripening
• Instead of transporting the bunches in bulk, transportation of
hands in CFB boxes be followed that will allow easy washing
and cleaning as well
• The collapsible crates can also be used for transporting the
green banana hands to distant markets
• The extensive studies are required on MAP and active and
intelligent packaging for Indian varieties
• The modern packaging technique suitable for Indian
condition for bunch as well as hand be developed by CIPHET
and NRCB through a joint project.