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Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Abstract

This study was conducted in response to the National Mango Board (NMB) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in development of a container for the “Common Packaging Footprint for Mangos.” This paper presents the development process for a new corrugated paperboard tray that allows the shipment of an approximate minimum weight of 4 kg of fresh mangos from various countries in Central and South America imported to the U.S. The mango trays currently being used by packing houses in Central and South America were evaluated. This study identified critical design elements which were used to develop a standardized corrugated tray for mangos. In addition, a survey of the retailers and buyers associated with purchasing mango trays in palletized loads in United States was conducted to assess the impact of the proposed tray design on the mango industry. The results indicated that a 14 down common footprint tray did not “best” meet the 40 × 48 Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) pallet size. It was capable of holding slightly less than the required 4 kg of mangos and the cooling efficiency was compromised. The two new proposed designs of 12 down and 15 down trays were capable of holding 5 and 3.75 kg of mangos, without affecting current pre-cooling efficiencies during post-harvest processing of the fruit. The survey results further indicated that the retailers are willing to consider a tray design which can hold more than 4 kg/tray, and among the two designs, prefer the proposed 12 down mango tray design.

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