Overview
ISO 7558:1988 - Guide to the prepacking of fruits and vegetables - provides practical guidance on prepacking methods used for fresh produce. The standard covers suitable prepacking materials, main prepacking systems (A–H), quality criteria for foodstuffs to be prepacked, preparatory treatments before packing, requirements for packing for transport, and marking/labelling recommendations. A table in the standard maps the most frequently used prepacking systems to specific fruits and vegetables.
Key Topics
- Prepacking systems (A–H) - Describes principal systems and typical use cases:
- System A: direct application of shrink or stretch film - for single large items (e.g., lettuces, cucumbers).
- System B: band of film around tray/box - for small items in trays.
- System C: film forming a complete cover - uses vapour‑permeable or shrink films.
- System D & E: net “tubes” and net bags - for small, low‑damage products (e.g., onions, citrus).
- System F–G: plastic film/paper bags and portable assembled half‑tubes - for small batches and consumer packs.
- System H: fold‑out boxes filled manually - for delicate or high‑value fruit (e.g., cherries, kiwifruit).
- Materials - Packaging must conform to health and hygiene standards; allowed materials include plastic and paper bags, films, netting, trays/boxes (cardboard, plastic), and functional surface finishes (transparent, colored) provided product defects are not masked.
- Quality and treatment - Only produce meeting relevant quality standards should be prepacked. Prepacking preparation may include washing, dry brushing, polishing, removal of spoiled leaves or stems, and other product‑specific treatments.
- Packing for transport - Guidance on transport packages (e.g., solid transport packages sized for standard pallets 800 × 1 200 mm for prepacked units ≤1 kg; net sacks for certain prepacked systems).
- Marking - Recommended labelling: product name, grade, packer name, date of packing, net mass, retail price; optional: price/kg, variety, origin. Each transport package should indicate the number of prepackages contained.
Applications and Users
ISO 7558 is useful for:
- Produce packers and packaging engineers selecting consumer and retail prepacking methods
- Fresh‑produce exporters and wholesalers planning transport packaging and palletization
- Retailers and merchandising teams implementing self‑service presentation and labelling
- Quality assurance and regulatory personnel ensuring hygiene, labelling and conformity to product standards
Keywords: ISO 7558, prepacking systems, fruits and vegetables, prepacking materials, packing for transport, marking requirements, quality of foodstuffs.
Related Standards
- ISO/TC 34 (Agricultural food products) - committee responsible for the standard
- ISO 1990‑1, ISO 1990‑2 (Fruits - Nomenclature) and ISO 1991‑1, ISO 1991‑2 (Vegetables - Nomenclature) - referenced for product names
- ISO 1956 (Morphological and structural terminology for fruits and vegetables)