TABLE GRAPE PUNNET PACKAGING: THE INFLUENCE OF CHECK-WEIGHING

摘要

Most of South Africa’s table grapes are exported to the EU and the UK. In recent years, prepackaged table grapes are now preferred in many European supermarkets. This increaseddemand has resulted in stringent quality standards, including the specification of punnetmass. Locally, table grapes are packed manually using seasonal labour, who often havelimited formal education. Punnets must conform to upper and lower mass limits, but manydeviations occur due to human and machine error. Check-weighing proved effective inreducing out-of-specification punnets, but human and machine errors were still problemfactors.