Packing house facts for kids
A packing house is a special building where fresh fruit is prepared before it goes to stores. Think of it as a fruit spa! Here, fruits like apples, oranges, and pears are carefully checked, cleaned, and packed. This makes sure they arrive at your local grocery store looking their best and ready to eat.
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How Fruit Arrives and Gets Sorted
When fruit is picked from farms, it comes to the packing house in big trucks. Workers carefully unload the fruit into large bins. The first step is to sort the fruit. They check for its quality and size.
Special Care for Citrus
Some fruits, like citrus (oranges, lemons), might still be a bit green when they arrive. Even if they are ripe inside, they don't look ready. These fruits go into special rooms. Here, a natural gas called ethylene helps them get their bright, colorful skin.
What Happens to "Culls"?
Not every piece of fruit is perfect. Some might have small marks or be an odd shape. These are called "culls." They are still good fruit, but they aren't sold fresh for eating. Instead, they are often used to make other things, like fruit juice or sauces. This way, nothing goes to waste!
Cleaning and Protecting the Fruit
Once the fruit is sorted, it gets a good cleaning.
Washing and Drying
First, the fruit goes through a washer. This cleans off any dirt or leaves from the farm. After washing, the fruit is air-dried. This gets it ready for the next step.
A Light Coat of Wax
Next, a very thin layer of natural wax is put on the fruit. This wax is safe to eat and helps the fruit in two ways:
- It keeps the fruit from losing moisture, so it stays fresh longer.
- It makes the fruit look shiny and appealing.
Grading and Packing the Fruit
After cleaning, the fruit moves along on conveyor belts. This is where it gets graded and packed.
How Fruit is Graded
Workers carefully look at each fruit. They sort it into different grades based on its quality:
- Top quality: These are the best-looking fruits.
- Average: These fruits are still good but might have minor differences.
- Orchard run: This usually means fruit that is sorted but not as strictly graded.
Packing for Shipment
Once graded, the fruit goes to packing tables. In the past, people used to wrap top-grade fruit in special paper. Today, fruit often has small stickers with logos. The fruit is then packed into boxes. The size of the fruit is important. Boxes are labeled with numbers that tell you how many pieces of fruit usually fit inside. For example, a box labeled "100s" would have larger fruit than one labeled "210s."
Modern Packing Methods
Even though there are machines that can pack fruit, much of the packing is still done by hand. This helps ensure each fruit is handled with care.
Storing and Shipping Fruit
After packing, the boxes of fruit are stored in a "pre-cooler." This is a cold room that gets the fruit ready for its journey.
Getting Ready for Travel
The pre-cooler chills the fruit down. This helps it stay fresh during shipping. The fruit then travels to stores all over the country. It goes by truck or by train in special refrigerator cars that keep it cool. Before these cool cars existed, fruit was shipped in regular boxcars that had some air vents or insulation.
