Vegetable packaging

 

These days, a wide range of vegetables are sold in sealed plastic bags. Originally, the sealed bag market focused on leafy vegetables. Now almost all vegetables, corn, squash and even some prepared dishes come in sealed plastic.

Of course this is a fantastic blessing.  People in Canada and in the Midwest can have fresh leafy vegetables and a wide range of food from warmer climes.   

I met the man who developed the plastic sealing process years ago at a Zen retreat near Carmel, Tassajara Springs.

The technical problem in developing this miraculous technology was to find a gas that prolonged the survival of the vegetables and didn’t escape its container.  The gas is nitrogen; abundant, cheap and safe.  The plastic, which looks like cellophane took years to develop.  The plastic was the great secret discovery.