British retailer Marks & Spencer has introduced a new laser marking method to label avocados, hoping to reduce paper waste. Switching from using paper-based adhesive labels to laser marking saves 10 tons of label & backing paper and 5 tons of adhesive per year.
Avocados are harvested at the origin and graded according to their source and subsequently shipped to the UK. Upon arrival, the ripe avocados are placed in a tray and sent to a conveyor belt, which is then labeled with a laser.
Laser marking will mark the retailer's logo, the best-before date, the country of origin, and the cashier code on the outer layer of the avocado. M&S claims that strong light hits the skin of the fruit and only causes the outermost peel and fade, which is not destructive to the fruit, and the operation can be very precise.
According to fruit technologists, “Given the success of all the practices on avocado, we can extend this laser marking technology to a wide variety of other fruits and vegetables. We will have the opportunity to reduce the packaging waste of our products exponentially,which is very exciting."
In recent years, laser marking technology has become more and more widely used in fruits. Some imported fruits or local fruits with certain brands, in order to highlight the brand awareness, will label the surface of the fruit, indicating the brand, origin and other information. The label can be easily torn or falsified, and the laser marking technology can mark on the peel, which not only does not damage the pulp inside the fruit, but also plays an anti-counterfeiting role, which is unique and novel.
Laser marking technology replaces the original paper label, saving production costs and environmental protection costs for retailers and suppliers, eliminating the need for glue for paper, ink and traditional labeling, and the application range will be more extensive.
