Fruit & food guide

Strawberry packaging guide

Strawberries are soft, respire fast and bruise under their own weight, so the pack has to hold them in shallow layers, let them breathe and show them off. Most retail packs hold 200–500 g in a clear rPET clamshell or heat-seal punnet.

Written and reviewed by the AVI technical team, from AVI Global Plast's own catalogue and production data · Updated

The three decisions

  1. Fill weight: set by your market and retailer. 250 g is the everyday size in India and Europe; UK packs run 225–400 g; the US buys by the pint or pound.
  2. Closure: a hinged clamshell re-closes and needs no machine; a heat-seal punnet is lighter, tamper-evident and carries the label on its film, but needs a tray sealer.
  3. Depth: the same fill weight comes in several depths. Pick the one that holds your berries in two layers at most, with a little headroom under the lid.

Keeping strawberries fresh

  • Cool fast and stay cold: field heat shortens shelf life more than any pack can recover.
  • Let them breathe: vents in the base and lid, or a perforated lidding film, stop condensation and mould.
  • Don't crush: a wide, shallow pack carries the same weight with less pressure on the bottom layer.

Export

Clamshells nest well and ship empty in compact cartons; flat heat-seal punnets nest even tighter. Every pack in AVI's catalogue lists its carton count and 40 ft container load.

AVI packs for this

PackTypeSize (L × W × H)Empty weightHoldsPer carton
PNG 190 / 55 Hinged lid 115 × 115 × 55 mm 9 g 190 g 1,800
PNG 220 / 60 Hinged lid 115 × 115 × 60 mm 9 g 220 g 1,800
PNG 240 / 70 Hinged lid 115 × 115 × 70 mm 9 g 240 g 1,800
PNG 250 / 75 Hinged lid 128 × 94 × 75 mm 9 g 250 g 1,225
PNG 253 / 43 Hinged lid 190 × 115 × 43 mm 13 g 1 pint, 300 g 900
PNG 400 / 40 Hinged lid 162 × 122 × 40 mm 11 g 225 g 1,700
A-30 / 75 Flat lid heat-sealed to base 145 × 120 × 75 mm 9 g 500 g 1,800 / 1,775 / 1,680
FLW 180 120 / 60 Wrapped on a flow-wrapping line 184 × 117 × 60 mm 9 g 500 g flowpack 1,420

All packs are rPET. Figures from AVI's catalogue; tolerances and fill depend on the product, so samples are the final check. See the full catalogue.

AVI products

Terms in this guide

Anti-fog
A coating or additive that stops condensation forming droplets on a film or pack, so chilled produce stays visible.
Clamshell
A one-piece pack whose lid is joined to the base by a hinge, so it closes on itself and can be reopened.
Heat-seal punnet
An open tray closed by heat-sealing a film lid to its rim. Tamper-evident and light, but it needs a tray sealer.
Lidding film
A film heat-sealed onto a tray or punnet to close it. It can be perforated for breathing produce or high-barrier for MAP.
Punnet
A small retail pack for soft fruit and vegetables such as berries, grapes and cherry tomatoes.
rPET
Recycled PET: used PET collected, cleaned and made into new material. The same polymer as virgin PET.
Vents
Holes or slots in a produce pack that let fruit breathe and stop condensation.

The full A–Z glossary

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