Tanimura & Antle compact clamshell

"Our study evaluating shelf life of lettuce with roots attached versus roots off showed no difference between the two," says Gurmail Mudahar, vp of food safety and quality assurance. The product is greenhouse grown and harvested at the same stage of maturity as Living Lettuce—Tanimura & Antle's hydroponic lettuce product that's packaged with the roots attached. Diana McClean, director of marketing, adds "While both products deliver a 16-day shelf life, consumer and customer preference will determine which product is delivered to retail stores."

The new sleeker clamshell is specially designed for this new rootless head of lettuce. The clamshell serves to protect the lettuce and maintain product quality from harvest to shelf. The informative colorful label faces forward for ease of merchandising and serves as a tamper-evident seal.

"We wanted to increase our line of greenhouse grown lettuces and offer a value option to our retail customer," says Rick Antle, CEO, "plus consumers have expressed interest in a cleaner product presentation. Once we discovered the shelf life and product quality were the same for lettuce with or without roots, we realized that we had a fairly easy alternative product offering out of Tennessee."

Packaged year round from their Livingston Tennessee greenhouse, Tanimura & Antle Hydroponic Butter lettuce is available in a 1-count clamshell or 3-count club-pack.

Source: Tanimura & Antle

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