Fruit & Vegetable Mesh Netting: The Professional Guide

Mesh is the cheapest pack in fresh produce and, at the same time, the one carrying the most commercial decisions: it holds the product, lets it breathe, identifies it at a glance on the shelf and, depending on the colour, makes it look riper or fresher than it would bare. This guide gathers what customers ask us every season: which mesh suits which product, what width and calibre to order, which colour works for each fruit and at what point hand netting stops making sense.

Fontanet Group has been supplying packaging solutions for 14 years from Fraga, in Huesca, with a team of professionals who bring more than 30 years in the sector. What sets this guide apart is that it treats the mesh and the netting machine as what they are: one single system. Choosing the mesh without looking at the machine — or buying the machine without recalculating the mesh format — is the most common way to lose money and end up with irregular packing in the middle of the season.

What is fruit mesh netting and what is it for?

Mesh netting for fruit and vegetables is a net pack, usually tubular, made from polyethylene, that contains the produce without enclosing it. Its open structure is exactly what makes it useful: it holds the pieces so they do not shift in transit while letting air move right through the load.

That ventilation is not a detail. Fruit and vegetables keep respiring after harvest: they give off heat and moisture. A closed pack traps that moisture, condensation appears and with it mould and accelerated ripening. Mesh avoids the problem by design, which is why it remains the reference format for citrus, onion, potato and garlic after decades on the market.

Two commercial functions matter as much or more. The first is identification: on a shelf, the colour of the mesh says what the product is before the shopper reads the label. The second is presentation: the colour of the net filters how the colour of the fruit is perceived and can make it look riper, fresher or more select. There is a whole section on this below, because it is where people get it wrong most often.

And there is a third point, less glamorous but decisive: the cost per kilo packed. Mesh is among the cheapest packs in the sector, and on tight-margin products like potato and onion that is not a nuance, it is the business.

Mesh types by material and manufacture

Three main ways of making mesh coexist in the professional catalogue, and the difference between them is not quality but destination: strength, stretch, the speed at which it runs on a machine and the price per metre all change. Choosing wrong breaks nothing, but you pay for it in waste, in losses or in a pack over-specified for what you actually needed.

Extruded mesh

Made by extruding polyethylene straight into a continuous tube, with the net already formed. It is the most widespread type worldwide for packing fruit and vegetables.

• Structure: continuous tubular net, light and flexible, that follows the contour of the produce.
• Format: tubular reel for machines, and also pre-cut bags or mini reels for hand work.
• Widths and calibres: several, selected by the diameter of the piece and the weight of the final pack.
• Colours: the full range used in the sector, two-tone included.
• Recyclable in the polyethylene stream.

It is the natural choice for citrus, onion, potato, garlic and nuts in consumer formats. Its strengths are cost and speed on a netting machine; its limit shows when the sack is heavy and handled a lot, where a knitted net holds up better.

Raschel (knitted) mesh

Raschel is knitted by interlacing yarns, not extruded. That interlacing spreads tension across the whole net instead of concentrating it, and there lies its advantage: it takes more load and stretches further without deforming.

• Structure: knitted yarns, with an open and very elastic net.
• Strength: above extruded, made for heavy formats and intensive handling.
• Format: tubular reel for machines and pre-cut sacks, with or without drawstring.
• Finish: a higher-quality look, common in higher-value presentations.

This is the mesh of bulk potato and onion sacks, of large formats and of anything that will pass through many hands before reaching the shelf. It costs somewhat more per metre than extruded, but on heavy formats the difference comes back in the sack that does not burst.

Tubular mesh for aquaculture

Same principle applied to another sector: mussels, oysters and clams are packed in mesh because they need drainage and ventilation as much as fruit does, if not more. Calibres and formats differ from the fresh produce ones, and so do the wet-strength requirements, so it is worth treating it as a separate family rather than assuming the citrus format will do.

Compostable mesh

This is the family that has grown most in recent years and the one that answers regulatory pressure head on. It is made from cellulose rather than polyethylene, and at the end of its life it composts instead of going into the plastics stream. Functionally it does the same job as conventional mesh: it holds, it ventilates and it presents.

Its natural ground is organic lines, where the pack has to match the product, and export markets with restrictive rules on plastic. France already limits plastic packaging in certain fruit and vegetable formats, and European retail is writing packaging sustainability criteria into supplier specifications: whoever moves first arrives at that negotiation with an advantage.

We hold it in stock in the usual formats and supply it made to order for the rest. It is a product worth testing before committing a season: ask for a sample, check it on your own produce, and we will send the data sheet with the certifications for that specific format.

Mesh types compared

Mesh colour: the decision that sells most

The colour of the mesh is the only part of the pack a shopper processes before getting close. On a fruit shelf, a coloured net acts as a filter over the produce: it does not change the fruit, but it changes how its tone, its shine and its ripeness are read. That is why the sector has settled on fairly stable conventions, and departing from them without a reason confuses more than it differentiates.

Red: oranges, onions, potatoes

The most used colour in the sector. Over citrus, a red net intensifies the warm tone and makes the orange read as riper. Over red onion and potato it reinforces the produce colour and adds contrast on the shelf. It is the Spanish citrus industry standard.

Orange: export oranges and mandarins

Unlike red, which pushes the tone up, orange stays true to the real colour of the citrus. It is preferred when the selling point is the specific variety and the buyer wants to see the fruit as it is, which is common in export channels and premium formats.

Yellow: lemons and bananas

A yellow net brings brightness to lemon and banana, which tend to look dull against a neutral background. It is the reference colour for lemon across Europe, and is also used on some yellow-skinned apple and pear varieties.

Green: lime, avocado, vegetables and organic lines

Green communicates freshness before anything else, which is why it is the colour of vegetables and green-skinned fruit. It carries a well established second reading too: on organic lines, green works as a signal of sustainability and natural produce.

White: garlic, mushroom and neutral presentation

White does not interfere with the colour of the produce. That is what you want on garlic and mushroom, where the visual value lies in the cleanliness and uniformity of the piece. It is also the best base when the mesh is printed, because the brand reads without competing with the background.

Black: premium presentation and select stone fruit

Black is the premium line device. Being non-reflective, it makes the colour of the fruit stand out by contrast, and conveys an idea of selection and exclusivity that no other colour delivers. It is used on cherry, on high-end stone fruit and on gourmet lines.

Purple: grapes and dark-toned fruit

A purple net goes with the purples of grape, black plum and blueberry, and sets them clearly apart from the rest of the shelf. It is a niche colour, but on its product it works better than any alternative.

Summary: which colour for which product

Formats: how mesh is supplied

The supply format follows the packing system, not the product. It is the decision with the biggest impact on cost per pack and on warehouse productivity.

Tubular reel, for machines

This is the netting machine format: continuous tubular mesh on a reel that the machine feeds, cuts and closes in cycle. It gives the lowest cost per unit, minimum waste and the least packaging residue. It is what any packhouse running in series uses.

Pre-cut sacks

Mesh already cut and closed at one end, ready to fill and close by hand, with or without a drawstring. It needs no machine and no investment, which makes it the option for direct sales, markets, small holdings and one-off runs. In exchange, the cost per unit is higher and the operator sets the pace.

Rolls for hand cutting

The middle ground: a roll of tubular mesh the operator cuts to the length needed. It gives flexibility when pack size changes often, at a better cost per metre than pre-cut sacks. It needs a mesh cutter or industrial scissors and a bit more labour.

Custom printing

Mesh takes printing with a brand, logo or product information, and the identification can also sit on the label or the closure. It is a simple way of standing out on the shelf without changing pack. It carries a minimum production quantity, so it has to be planned ahead of the season.

Netting machines: mesh and machine are one system

Mesh really performs when a machine applies it. A netting machine automates the packing cycle, gives an identical finish on every unit, cuts wasted offcut and frees up labour that in peak season is worth its weight in gold. At Fontanet Group we supply the full range, with engineering, installation, training and our own technical service across Spain, with branches in Aragon and Catalonia.

Above these three sits the KUK-900 netting machine, for high output, when the bottleneck on the line can no longer be the packing station.

From hand to machine: what changes

The right question is not how many units a minute each machine does, but how many you need and how many people you can put on packing at the peak of the season. With those two figures, plus the mesh format you use, the choice resolves itself. We look at the line and tell you which one fits, without selling above what is needed.

How to choose the right mesh

These are the five steps we follow when a customer calls us to review their packing. Answering them in order avoids almost every expensive mistake.

1. Start with the produce. Round, regular pieces such as orange, onion or potato: extruded tubular mesh with the calibre matched to the diameter. Bulk produce in heavy formats: raschel. Shellfish: the purpose-made aquaculture format, not the fruit one.
2. Fix the retail format. The weight of the final pack governs the width and the type of mesh. The same produce in a consumer net and in a large sack does not take the same mesh, and assuming it does is the most repeated mistake.
3. Choose the colour with the fruit in front of you. Use the table above as a starting point and confirm it with a sample over produce from the current season. If the pack is printed, allow for the minimum quantity and the lead time.
4. Look at how many people you have. If packing depends on hands available at the peak of the season, that is the argument for the machine, more than the saving on material. Mesh on reels only makes sense if there is a netting machine to use it.
5. Settle the supply format. Reels if you pack in series, pre-cut sacks if it is occasional, rolls if the size changes often. It is the decision that most affects the cost per pack.

Sustainability and regulation: where packaging is heading

Fruit and vegetable packaging sits at the centre of European regulatory change. Packaging and packaging waste rules and the single-use plastics directive push towards using less material, improving recyclability and, in some formats and countries, replacing plastic outright. France already restricts plastic packaging in certain fruit and vegetable formats, and European retail has written packaging sustainability criteria into supplier specifications.

For mesh, that translates into three concrete fronts:

• Real recyclability. Polyethylene mesh is recyclable, but only if the waste is separated and baled. A press in the warehouse turns a bulky residue into material with value.
• Material reduction. Matching calibre and width to the produce, instead of using one format for everything, cuts plastic per pack without changing material.
• Compostable mesh. We carry it, with stock of the usual formats, and it is the only route that replaces the material rather than optimising it.

We will put it without decoration: the quickest and most profitable way to cut plastic in mesh packing is not to change material, it is to stop wasting it. The offcut thrown away in irregular hand netting is material you paid for that never wrapped any produce.

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Frequently asked questions about fruit mesh

Why buy your mesh from Fontanet Group?

Because we sell the mesh and the machine that applies it, and that changes the advice you get. A company that only sells reels has no incentive for you to use fewer; one that only sells machines does not know how your mesh behaves with your produce.

• 14 years in business and a technical team with more than 30 years in fresh produce packaging.
• Tubular, raschel, extruded and compostable mesh in a range of calibres, widths and colours, with custom printing available.
• A full range of netting machines: MEN110 semi-automatic, MEL110 automatic, REK 140 and KUK-900 for high output.
• Full machine service: engineering, installation, training and maintenance, with our own technical service across Spain and branches in Aragon and Catalonia.
• Advice based on your real operation, with physical samples before you order.
• Permanent stock of the most requested formats and colours, with 24-72 hour delivery to mainland Spain, the Balearics and the Canaries.
• Aquaculture formats too: mussel, oyster and clam.
• We are in Fraga, in the middle of the Ebro valley fresh produce region, and that shows in our lead times.

You can see the packing mesh page, the rest of our packaging solutions, our packaging machinery range, or read our story.