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Pre-sizing and Packing – Apple

There are two main types of packing systems, Commit to Pack (AKA direct pack)
and Presizing. For the Commit to Pack system, the warehouse contracts with the
grower that they will pack their fruit at the time that the bins are rst emptied. A
disadvantage of this system is that if the packed fruit is not sold at that time, it
will be returned to storage and it may have to be unpacked and sold for
processing if there is no order placed for that fruit. For the Presizing system, once
fruit are sorted for various sizes, they are returned to bins and placed back into
storage until there is a need for that fruit. Presized fruit bins are often made up of
pooled grower lots. This may require extra record keeping to maintain the food
safety traceability of each grower lot within the pool. Note that apples are
generally less sensitive to packing injury than pears (noted below) and can
withstand the extra pre-sizing process.

Regardless of the packing

system, the basic steps are the
same. First, apples are brought
out of regular or Controlled
Atmosphere (CA) storage when
it is time to pack or presize. If
the facility uses hydro handling,
bins of apples are immersed
into a water dunk tank where
fruit oat out to a conveyor
belt. If the facility uses dry Granny Smith apples oating from the dump
loading, full bins are tipped tack to the conveyors. (W.E. Jones-WSU)
directly onto the conveyor
belt. The apples are then moved to the sorting lines, where trained personnel
remove and discard the decayed (if they haven’t already been removed),
defective, damaged, and undersized fruit. These are referred to as culls. Insect
stings, decay, and severe sunburn are all considered culls (learn more). Very small
fruit are separated out for disposal or possibly for processing. Apples then
proceed to cleaning (soaking in water containing food-grade detergents and
disinfectants), rinsing with water and air-drying.

Packing lines vary in the types and amounts of chemicals used in the packing
process (learn more). Certain varieties are sprayed with food grade wax to help
prevent moisture loss, slow down respiration in storage, and to increase shine.
Organic apples are not waxed and undergo a slightly di erent process (learn
more here and here).  Fruit is then graded and sized by hand or by using
automated optical technology. There are national and state standards for apple
grades. Grades consist of appearance, color, size, weight, and internal quality.
Some varieties may have various shades of color, all with several grades and
sizes. Computer controlled automated sorters are used by many facilities to
analyze apple size, color and even internal quality (learn more). After sorting and
grading fruit for the Presizing system they are returned to bins labeled speci cally
for their grade and size then placed back into cold storage until needed to ll an
order. Commit to pack fruit proceed directly to the packing area.

Fruit to be packed are sent via conveyor belts to the packing area. Along the way,
individual fruit are labeled by machine. The fruit are then placed in trays or bags
either by hand or by a packing robot then loaded into boxes. Apples are
commonly boxed by size. For example, seventy-two size 72 apples t in a 42-
pound carton. Full containers are labeled with information about variety, size,
grade, grower lot number and facility for food safety and traceability.  Containers
are weighed and placed on pallets and then moved to the shipping area for
loading or returned to cold storage if not being shipped right away.

Related Links

A Brief look at the Washington Apple industry: Past and Present, R.

Schotzko and D. Granatstein, pdf report, 78p., 2005.
Handling Organic Apples. M. McEvoy, Postharvest Information Network
page, 1998.
Stemilt’s Apple Packing page, outlining the apple packing process.