News » 12.10.2026 - Getting the most out of atmosphere packaging for flowers
The following is an interview with Hila Lati, Africa Regional Manager for Gadot Agro
Why is the flower industry looking for new solutions for long-term storage and transport?
Air freight remains a major cost for the flower industry, and during periods of disruption, limited capacity can make transport even more challenging. At the same time, there is growing pressure, particularly in European markets, to reduce the carbon footprint of the flower supply chain, driving increased interest in sea freight as a more sustainable alternative. Growers, exporters and buyers are also looking for greater logistical flexibility and better supply planning, particularly around peak demand periods such as Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Longer storage can also support longer distribution routes, for example when flowers are shipped by air followed by extended road distribution. All of this creates a growing need for solutions that can maintain flower quality for significantly longer periods.
What solutions do Gadot Agro and StePacPPC offer to meet this challenge?
Gadot Agro is the exclusive distributor of StePacPPC in Kenya. The combination of Gadot Flower Care solutions like T.O.G®-STAR and T.O.G-75 treatments together with StePacPPC Xbloom modified atmosphere / modified humidity (MA/MH) packaging meets the challenge associated with maintaining quality during prolonged storage and transport.\
Why does long-term storage require a combined approach?
After harvest, cut flowers continue their normal physiological processes, using stored reserves as they gradually age. During prolonged storage, water loss can lead to dehydration and loss of turgor, ethylene can accelerate ageing in sensitive flowers, and latent Botrytis infections may develop.
Successful long-term storage therefore depends on managing the whole postharvest process, as no one product can achieve this by itself. Gadot Agro's expertise in flower care and postharvest treatments, combined with StePacPPC's expertise in modified atmosphere and humidity packaging, provides a strong basis for long-term storage based on the combined use of complementary products.
How should flowers be prepared before packing for long-term storage?
Botrytis can be present as a latent infection without visible symptoms at harvest and may develop later during storage. T.O.G STAR is applied as a postharvest dipping treatment, providing protective coverage of the flowers and helping to suppress Botrytis development during storage and transport.
For ethylene-sensitive flowers, T.O.G-75, based on silver thiosulfate (STS), blocks ethylene action in the flower tissue and helps protect against ethylene-related ageing and quality loss.
How does Xbloom manage the atmosphere around the flowers?
Xbloom bags are produced from proprietary film structures designed to create a beneficial modified atmosphere around the flowers. Once the bag is sealed, flower respiration, together with the controlled gas permeability of the film, results in reduced oxygen and elevated carbon dioxide concentrations. This modified atmosphere slows respiration and inhibits the production and action of ethylene, helping to slow ageing and preserve flower quality. The elevated carbon dioxide concentration within the package also helps suppress Botrytis.
Unlike conventional flower packaging, Xbloom is designed to create and maintain this modified atmosphere around the flowers.
How does Xbloom manage humidity inside the package?
As flowers respire, they also emit water vapor, increasing the relative humidity inside the sealed package, which helps to reduce dehydration. However, too much humidity can lead to condensation and encourage microbial growth. Xbloom film is engineered to maintain high relative humidity while allowing excess moisture to escape. This modified humidity effect helps keep flowers hydrated while reducing the risk of condensation.
This combination of modified atmosphere and modified humidity management within the same package is a key feature of Xbloom technology.
After 21 days of cold storage in Xbloom packaging, with no visible condensation inside the package.
What else is important for successful long-term storage?
Long-term storage is not only about the products or packaging being used. Results depend on the whole postharvest process, including the flower variety, quality and stage at harvest, proper hydration and, above all, good cold chain management. This is why we work closely with farms to look at the complete process and build the right protocol for their flowers and conditions.
What are the practical and commercial benefits of Xbloom?
Because the MA/MH conditions are created inside each Xbloom package, sea shipments can use a standard reefer container without the need for a CA container.
Another important advantage is continuity. The MA/MH conditions start from the moment the bag is sealed at the farm and continue before loading, during transport and after unloading, until the package is opened. With a CA system, the flowers benefit from the controlled atmosphere only while they are inside the CA environment.
Growers and buyers can also store Xbloom packages in a regular cold room, while the flowers benefit from the MA/MH conditions created inside the package, without additional infrastructure investment.
What is the main message you would like growers and exporters to take from this?
Successful long-term storage and transport is not about one product, but about understanding and managing the whole process. There is still a lot to learn, and working closely with growers, exporters and buyers allows us to share experience, understand real challenges and continuously improve the protocols. This cooperation is an important part of making long-term storage and transport work in practice.
Source: www.floraldaily.com
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