Fresh produce packaging breaks through the barriers: in accepting packaged produce, consumers have to overcome preconceived negative notions - Consumer Corner

Many consumers associate packaged flesh fruits and vegetables with minimal freshness and maximum shipping distance, decay, preservatives and packaging deception.

Packaging for flesh produce has a historical burden that says the freshest fresh produce is found in open baskets at farmers' markets.

On the other hand, family wisdom says the oldest and poorest quality, most spoiled and least fresh (apples, cherries, peppers, potatoes, you-name-it) produce is found at the bottom of packages sold in the supermarket.

Here are six beliefs consumers have about packaged fresh produce:

1. PACKAGE COVER-UP

Many consumers believe that some supermarkets package produce so they can deliberately cover up the bad stuff to get rid of it.

Even with totally transparent plastics, berry-buyers that find mold spots or spoiled sections in the center of a see-though package wonder why the bad parts don't show on the outside.

2. FRESH NOT PACKAGED

The gut-level consumer definition of "fresh" includes the concept "not packaged." This means that the "fresh" fruits and vegetables that consumers are buying for health would be somehow healthier if they were really "flesh," which on some level means "not packaged."

3. MORE PRESERVATIVES

In a 2001 Consumer Network study of packaging concerns related to fresh produce, the number one concern expressed by consumers was that packaged fruits and vegetables should have as few preservatives as possible.

Fear of preservatives and pesticide residues are actually barriers to greater produce consumption. Many consumers eat potatoes, corn, and cherries mostly for pleasure and eat other fruits and vegetables mostly for health.

Given the produce-for-health focus, consumers are very concerned about pesticide residues and preservatives, which they believe to be unhealthy.

While pesticide residues aren't associated with packaging, they are associated with preservatives, which are associated with packaging. Ergo, many consumers have irrational fears that packaged produce is less healthy than unpackaged produce.

This is especially true of packaged salads--which created a huge convenience and good value and which have been successful, although not as successful as they might have been without the fear barriers they must overcome.

Concerned consumers have to compromise and balance their beliefs that less healthy packaged salads are healthier than not eating salads at all.

4. EXTENDING FRESHNESS

The other side of wanting fewer preservatives is the wish for extended freshness. Here, most consumers understand that packaging dramatically extends the freshness of pre-cuts, from salads to melons and from carrots to pineapple. They just aren't sure that they trust how this happens.

5. FIELD PACKED MEANS FRESH PRODUCE

Besides responding to the perceptions and demands of consumers for convenient, fridge-friendly, aesthetic and eco-friendly packaging, many produce containers have to be picker-friendly as well. Berries that are field-packaged are picked directly from the plants into the consumer package.

6. OBSCURE COLORS

Color is another problem that packaged produce has had to overcome. Unpackaged fresh produce and unclothed women have been favorite art subjects for hundreds of years.

Brilliantly colored displays of fresh fruit and vegetables are the aesthetic and artistic center of any food store.

Creating visual magic with packaged produce is a lot harder, and until recently, few retailers have even tried to do it. Today, it is actually possible to find innovative and creative displays of pre-cuts that showcase their rich colors and ready-to-eat bloom.

BARRIER BUSTERS

The produce marketing industry has united to put some real money and support behind the "5-A-Day" promotion, which encourages consumers to eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables. It hasn't been as effective as the celebrity mustaches used to reposition milk--but the idea the fruits and vegetables are good for us really isn't anything new.

As a result of this history, packaged produce has as many perceptual and educational challenges to overcome as scientific ones.

The amazing thing about new approaches to produce packaging is how many barriers have been quickly overcome. Thanks to the successful marketing of mini-carrots and ready-to-eat salads, consumers are ready to accept more and more packaged produce, as long as they don't feel cheated in the changeover process.

In the near future, expect to see convenience packaging extended to multipacks (think Lunchables) that offer munching, snacking and meal-fixing variety in consumer-friendly, no-thinking-needed packages.

The author, Mona Doyle is the CEO of The Consumer Network Inc., an organization that regularly takes the pulse of consumers on packaging issues. She publishes The Shopper Report newsletter. Contact her at 2401 Pennsylvania Ave., Suite 2A4, Philadelphia, PA 19130 Phone: 800-291-0100; E-mail: Mona@MonaDoyle.com

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