News and Stories

Over the past several weeks, premature browning and pinking issues in salad blends, chopped lettuces, and shredded items have led to product deteriorating before best-if-used-by dates. After researching, the root cause was found to be sporadic leaks in the packaging film. Very small pin holes or abrasions were caused during the packing process, leading to spikes in oxygen levels that contributed to premature pinking five to eight days post packing.

The following corrective actions have been put into place to reduce the risk of leaks moving forward:

• Continuous improvement in the packaging and sealing workmanship
• An increase in leak tests on all product that requires seals every 30 to 45 minutes by the machine operators as well as quality control technicians
• Additional quality control audits throughout the process verifying bagger speed, packing style, and leak tests
• Change in packing style to pillow pack (horizontal) instead of soldier pack (vertical) for all iceberg items to lessen the burden on the film and reduce the overall risk of damage

Markon’s quality assurance team will closely monitor shelf-life retains and leak tests over the next several weeks to ensure the issue has been resolved.

Please contact your Markon customer service representative for more information.

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