Weinan Shine Muscat Wins Gold Award as Cold Chain and Packaging Solve Grape Storage and Transportation Challenges

According to the Chengcheng County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, a local park's Shine Muscat grapes brought in over one million yuan in annual revenue and won a gold award in the 2022 provincial table grape evaluation, with total output doubling compared to last year. The park implements automated temperature control, refined management, and order-based sales, focusing on the development of green Shine Muscat grapes to lead local people toward shared prosperity. It is understood that expanding specialty fruit cultivation has become a powerful lever for Chengcheng County in implementing rural revitalization, and the county has already formed a development layout of “winter jujube, grapes, yellow peaches and other specialty fruits in the south, cherries in the center, and apples in the north.” The Shine Muscat, known as the “Hermès of grapes,” has also become an important force in consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation and promoting rural revitalization.

Shine Muscat grapes are yellow-green in color, with a smooth and translucent appearance, crisp and juicy flesh, and a rose fragrance. Their excellent fresh-eating quality makes them deeply loved by consumers. Shine Muscat originally came from Japan and was introduced for large-scale cultivation due to its good market prospects. Today, Shine Muscat is widely grown in Hunan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Henan, Sichuan, Shandong, Shaanxi, Xinjiang and other regions.

As everyone knows, Shine Muscat is a “delicate” fruit, which is reflected not only in its price but also in its poor tolerance for storage and transportation. Shine Muscat has a short shelf life and will deteriorate after just a day or two of natural storage; even a slight bump can damage the flesh and accelerate spoilage. Yet today, the Shine Muscat we see in supermarkets is intact and tastes no different from freshly picked grapes. This is mainly thanks to the use of cold chain logistics and advanced packaging technology, which allows the “delicate” Shine Muscat to appear safely on supermarket shelves.

After harvesting, Shine Muscat grapes need to be promptly sent to cold storage for pre-cooling, which prevents the grapes from being affected by the summer heat, locks in moisture in time, and keeps the grapes fresh. After pre-cooling, they need to be packaged and boxed for shipment to consumer markets, and the packaging process also involves considerable expertise. To avoid bruising the grapes, fresh-keeping air cushion bags are generally used to separate clusters of grapes and prevent damage from collisions between them. Some vacuum packaging machines also play an important role in the packaging of Shine Muscat; vacuum packaging prevents the grapes from reacting with air, thereby extending their shelf life. Once packaging is complete, the Shine Muscat grapes are transported to consumer markets by cold chain trucks.

It is understood that SF Express, a leader in the express delivery industry, has reached cooperation with grape-producing areas to solve the challenges of grape storage and transportation. For example, SF Express uses cold-chain transport throughout the grape shipping process and equips EPP insulated boxes. In terms of packaging design, it adopts a five-layer protective and fresh-keeping measure of “paper bag + air cushion bag + ice bag + foam + carton” to ensure the grapes maintain quality and freshness during transportation.

Cold chain logistics and packaging technology have effectively solved the freshness, storage and transportation challenges of Shine Muscat. It is no exaggeration to say that both have benefited a vast number of consumers, allowing consumers across the country to enjoy fresh and delicious Shine Muscat grapes.