We are pleased to tell you that we conducted our pilot with India Post for sending mangoes through Speed Post and it has been quite successful with boxes reaching Pune, Ahmednagar, Satara and Mumbai within 24 hours of booking them at Pune Post Office. The Post Master General has also assured us of the boxes reaching all state capitals within 24 to 48 hours, which is quite encouraging.
However, we faced an issue from our side. As you’d know, Alphonso mango is a delicate fruit and also very aromatic even when uncut. So to avoid the aroma coming out of the box (to avoid temptation), the Post Office staff had suggested that we pack the boxes in such a way that the contents are not known. Being a delicate fruit, Alphonso boxes need to have holes to allow heat escape and air circulation. Alphonso is packed in corrugated paper boxes and covered inside in straws of hay that acts as a cushion and also keeps the mangoes warm to help them ripen.
As we had to tight pack the boxes, we found that though the boxes reached safely, there was an excess heat build up inside and some mangoes got cooked and burnt. Water vapour also built up inside these boxes, but to absorb that we are planning to use cloth packets containing salt powder. Paper shreds is another option to straws of hay, but that builds more heat.
We are wondering if there is any packaging material or way in which we can control temperature inside the box after mangoes are seal packed inside. The needs are that the box should be seal packed so that contents are not known, there should be natural build up of heat inside so that fruit ripens, there should not be excess build up of heat or the fruits gets burnt or cooked, the packaging material should be as cheap and easily available as paper shreds or straws of hay. As the boxes are not gonna come back, and go to the trash, the options should be disposable, recyclable and environment friendly.
