Food and Beverage Packaging May 2012 : Page-34

Market Trends DAIRY by ELISABETH CUNEO, Associate Editor DAIRIES CHURN OUT INNOVATIVE, CONVENIENT PACKAGES The dairy market boasts easy-open, on-the-go and cartoned options. he dairy industry is ever-changing. As a child in the 1990s, I didn’t have drink-able yogurt and individually-packed cheese snacks for lunches were not prevalent. As with many food segments, this market is focused more on conve-nience and portability, but the dairy in-dustry also faces challenges with product freshness. T For easy shredded and sliced cheese solutions, Am-cor (www.amcor.com) and Velcro Europe S.A. (www. velcro.com) have partnered to bring a new easy-to-open and reseal innovation to the fresh and dairy ﬂ ex-ible packaging market. CARTONS OF PLENTY Cheese please Cathedral City Chedds Cheese & Toasties snacks use real cheese and are foil wrapped. 34 FOOD & BEVERA GE P A CKA GING ‹‹ Speaking of packed lunches, RPC Bebo UK (www. rpc-group.com) working with the UK’s largest dairy processor, Dairy Crest, has developed Cathedral City Chedds Cheese & Toasties snacks for kids to help par-ents offer healthy lunchbox selections. Chedds Cheese & Toasties consists of six slices of mild Cheddar cheese and six mini Melba toasts, foil wrapped for crispness in a specially-designed heat sealed polypropylene/ethylene vinyl alcohol pack. Three snack packs are packaged together inside a pa-perboard sleeve. Another portable snack is the Sargento Natural Blends Cheddar-Mozzarella Cheese Snacks, which won a 2012 Better Homes and Gardens Best New Prod-uct Award in the food and beverage category. The blended cheese snacks are individually wrapped for a portable, cheese snack anytime. A ccording to Suley Muratoglu, Tetra Pak ’s (www. tetrapak.com), VP of marketing & product man-agement, U.S. & Canada, “the worldwide consump-tion of liquid dairy products is expected to rise from 71.3 billion gallons in 2010 to about 92.4 billion gallons by 2020.This increase is being fueled in large part by growth of educated, upwardly mobile consumers looking for healthy foods and beverages that ﬁ t their increasingly fast-paced urban lifestyles.” Sunrich Natural’s dairy-alternative SoL Refreshing Sunﬂ ower Beverage packaged in Tetra Pak cartons offers a new staple for consumers seeking foods free of dairy, gluten and tree nuts. The new drink is offered in Tetra Pak cartons that are recyclable in a growing amount of markets, have a low carbon footprint and are more space-efﬁ cient than other packages. Another company uses cartons for its dairy bever-age, Danone-Unimilk; in Russia, the company has launched two whey drinks containing nutritious bits of fruit under the brand name Actual , in mango and peach ﬂ avors. The drinks utilize the new drinksplus technology from SIG Combibloc (www.sig.biz) and are offered in combiﬁ t Small 250-mL cartons with drinking straws. drinks plus makes it possible to aseptically ﬁ ll carton packaging drinks containing particulates that can be up to six millimeters in diameter. Combining top-quality drinks with added extras underscores the premium nature of the products, and ﬁ ts perfectly with trends in the beverage market: Consumers want healthy food and are also looking for interesting and unusual new taste experiences. MA Y 2012 WWW . FOOD ANDBEVERA GEP A CKA GING . COM

Dairies Churn Out Innovative, Convenient Packages

Elisabeth Cuneo

DAIRY The dairy market boasts easy-open, on-the-go and cartoned options. The dairy industry is ever-changing. As a child in the 1990s, I didn't have drinkable yogurt and individually-packed cheese snacks for lunches were not prevalent. As with many food segments, this market is focused more on convenience and portability, but the dairy industry also faces challenges with product freshness. Cheese please Speaking of packed lunches, RPC Bebo UK (www.Rpc-group.com) working with the UK's largest dairy processor, Dairy Crest, has developed Cathedral City Chedds Cheese & Toasties snacks for kids to help parents offer healthy lunchbox selections. Chedds Cheese & Toasties consists of six slices of mild Cheddar cheese and six mini Melba toasts, foil wrapped for crispness in a specially-designed heat sealed polypropylene/ethylene vinyl alcohol pack. Three snack packs are packaged together inside a paperboard sleeve. Another portable snack is the Sargento Natural Blends Cheddar-Mozzarella Cheese Snacks, which won a 2012 Better Homes and Gardens Best New Product Award in the food and beverage category. The blended cheese snacks are individually wrapped for a portable, cheese snack anytime. For easy shredded and sliced cheese solutions, Amcor (www.amcor.com) and Velcro Europe S.A. (www.Velcro.com) have partnered to bring a new easy-toopen and reseal innovation to the fresh and dairy flexible packaging market. The new offering combines a choice of films adapted to meet all fresh and dairy product requirements in combination with the VELCRO® Brand Press-Lok™ consumer-friendly closure that provides easy alignment of the two components that's simple to open and reseal. It remains functional even if contaminated by food because the hooks will close through particles. Another easy-to-open package is the Cryovac (www.cryovac.com) Grip and Tear bag (from Sealed Air) that features an easy-open tab design. It combines superior shrink and toughness without compromising oxygen-barrier properties, keeping the product cleaner and more sanitary during handling. No scissors or knives are needed to open the bag. Yes to yogurt One yogurt company in Europe introduced a soybased yogurt with an interesting package designed to raise the company's profile on the single-serve yogurt market. The European Group Alpro's Belgian firm has selected arcil (www.arcil.net) to support the launch of new Alpro Fruity & Creamy. Alpro wanted a new and original container, completely dedicated to this new creamy recipe. The new container features vibrant imagery, a curve-shaped relief decoration suggesting a soft, gentle wave and is sold in groupings of four. Another yogurt company is revealing packaging innovation with Greek yogurt, which is taking the American market by storm. Its significant health benefits and convenience offer a quick and nutritious alternative for on-the-go lifestyles. Alpina Revive brings a unique twist on traditional Greek yogurt by combining all-natural granola mix-ins stored in a plastic dome lid provided by Grupo Phoenix (www.Grupophoenix.com). The cup and dome lid make it easy to bring the yogurt and granola snack on the go and keep both components fresh. Packaging for dairy must always hit three marks, product stability, aesthetically pleasing packaging and convenient handling. There is plenty of innovative packaging that aim to hit all three, and these mentioned here are surely among the cream of the crop. CARTONS OF PLENTY According to Suley Muratoglu, Tetra Pak's (www.Tetrapak.com), VP of marketing & product management, U. S. & Canada, "the worldwide consumption of liquid dairy products is expected to rise from 71. 3 billion gallons in 2010 to about 92.4 billion gallons by 2020.This increase is being fueled in large part by growth of educated, upwardly mobile consumers looking for healthy foods and beverages that fit their increasingly fast-paced urban lifestyles." Sunrich Natural's dairy-alternative SoL Refreshing Sunflower Beverage packaged in Tetra Pak cartons offers a new staple for consumers seeking foods free of dairy, gluten and tree nuts. The new drink is offered in Tetra Pak cartons that are recyclable in a growing amount of markets, have a low carbon footprint and are more space-efficient than other packages. Another company uses cartons for its dairy beverage, Danone-Unimilk; in Russia, the company has launched two whey drinks containing nutritious bits of fruit under the brand name Actual, in mango and peach flavors. The drinks utilize the new drinksplus technology from SIG Combibloc (www.sig.biz) and are offered in combifitSmall 250-mL cartons with drinking straws. Drinksplus makes it possible to aseptically fill carton packaging drinks containing particulates that can be up to six millimeters in diameter. Combining top-quality drinks with added extras underscores the premium nature of the products, and fits perfectly with trends in the beverage market: Consumers want healthy food and are also looking for interesting and unusual new taste experiences. DAIRY ALTERNATIVES ON THE RISE Choosing dairy-free is certainly growing in popularity and the proof is in the pudding as more companies offer various dairy alternative products. Packaged Facts (www.packagedfacts.com) estimates that total U.S. retail sales of dairy alternative beverages (soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, and other alternatives) reached $1.33 billion in 2011. Currently, the most commonly known and popular of the commercial plant milks is soy milk. Following in consumer recognition and consumption are almond milk, rice milk and coconut milk, in order. Cathedral City Chedds Cheese & Toasties snacks use real cheese and are foil wrapped. Dairy-alternative SoL sunflower milk is packed in ecofriendly cartons. Alpina Revive Greek yogurt comes with granola packed separately, in a dome lid.

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