Packing Facilities
What happens at the Sweeter Banana Packing Shed
As a co-operative our central packing shed handles the Banana’s from 28 different family run plantations in the Carnarvon area.
Picking and carrying bunches Bananas having a shower Smoothies are packed into 750g Smoothie bags Bananas at the store |
We use a simple trailer system that enables a truck to deliver empty trailers to each of our growers. The growers use these on their farms and pick their bananas directly onto these trailers. Banana bunches are put in bags or wrapped in foam matting to protect them from marking as they travel the short distance to the packing shed. On arrival at the packing shed they are put under sprinklers to keep them at a cool temperature.
Bananas are removed from the trailers by hanging them from a bunch chain and sent into the shower for washing. This removes any dead leaves or dust from the bananas and softens the flower ends of the bananas that could damage other fruit. The fruit moves to the de-handing area, where the individual hands of bananas are removed from the stalks and placed in a water bath. The fruit is graded by size. Fruit can be graded for quality. Each of the baths has a particular specification to which the bananas are graded. Any banana’s that don’t make the grade are mulched and this mulch is then transported back to plantations for use as organic fertiliser. The Extra Large Fruit is packed loosely into cardboard cartons. Lunchbox fruit is pre-packed into our famous “Original Lunchbox Banana” 750g bags. Each bag must be weighed to ensure it is over 750g in weight. Smoothies as packed into 750 g Smoothies bags. Bags are cliplocked and packed into crates. Pallets of bananas are then loaded into the cool room and stored until they reach the optimum transport temperature of 13 degrees. Bananas are then loaded directly into a refrigerated semi-trailer for transportation to the Perth market bananas are slowly ripened in temperature controlled ripening rooms. The rooms contain a mixture of oxygen, C02 and ethylene, a gas that is naturally produced by ripening bananas. Temperature, oxygen and ethylene are closely monitored and controlled until optimum ripeness is achieved. Once bananas are ripened to the desired level they are cooled again to stop the ripening process. Bananas delivered to stores at peak ripeness and quality ready for you to eat. |
Page Last Modified: Thu 24 Sep 2009