Environmental Protection:

Ecofruit

Packaging, storage and distribution of organic fruit and vegetables is particularly challenging in Norway, due to low turnover and long distances. This project will explore new solutions, especially to packaging the products, to better maintain the quality and to reduce the total environmental impact from a value chain perspective.

The background to the project is that, despite the government's target of 15 percent organic cultivation of cultivated land by 2015 and consumers wishing to consume more organic fruit and vegetables, the consumption remains low. Important reasons for this may be lack of availability, high cost and in part lower quality than conventional products.

The project's target is:

• to contribute to the increased sale of organic fruit and vegetables, in the COOP chain particularly and in Norwegian supermarkets in general.
• to ensure that the packaging and distribution of organic fruit and vegetables have high value chain efficiency, while at the same time ensuring good quality and an optimal environmental and resource profile for the products.

Multiple studies on fruit and vegetables, and other easily perishable products, have shown that the quality and type of packaging and the nature of the products, as well as physical conditions during distribution and storage, are very important factors for improving not only the quality of the product in the shop, but also the total value chain efficiency and increasing sales

Life cycle assessments, quality analysis (e.g. respiration) and investigations in the field (e.g. observation of temperature during transport) are used in this project to identify areas where quality and environmental efficiency are lost, and to evaluate the effect of the proposed measures.