What was it all about?

This project delivered the results of previous work into carton configurations to industry. The ultimate goals were to reduce fruit quality defects, help improve fruit presentation on retail shelves and maximise cost efficiencies through the banana supply chain – ultimately supporting an increase in banana sales.

The original project, Scoping study to develop a standardised industry banana carton (BA13015), sought to develop minimum and optimum specifications for cartons taking into consideration construction and form, secondary packaging and packing methodology.

The four main carton configurations currently used in the Australian market were assessed, namely the 13kg two-piece carton, 15kg two-piece carton, 13kg one-piece carton and 15kg one-piece carton, with the aim to identify the most cost effective configuration.

The project confirmed that the 15kg one-piece carton was the most cost-effective means for transporting bananas whilst minimising fruit damage. It is estimated that fruit waste at retail stores can be reduced from the current levels of five to eight per cent down to two to five per cent. If waste can be reduced by 2.5 per cent, then this presents industry with a potential annual saving of $22.79 million based upon FY2014-15 Nielsen data, and the opportunity for this volume of fruit to transfer into additional retail sales.

The outputs delivered by this project include minimum and optimum specifications for use by the whole banana industry in Australia, as well as best-practice guidelines for the key supply chain stages.

If these outputs are implemented, it could lead to an improvement in the quality of fruit in retail stores and an increase in consumer satisfaction, in turn increasing demand.