Package innovation as a response to market trends

Global downturn drives change in liquid food packaging design, says beverage market analyst Canadean MANY brand owners throughout the world have been forced to reconfigure their existing product ranges and develop new categories, products and packaging designs aimed at more costconscious, budget-restricted consumers. And nowhere is this more evident than in the ambient liquid food sector, where the slowdown in consumer spending is causing many other large retail food chains to extend their private label brands to meet rising consumer demand for better value, compete and retain market share. These market trends are spawning a new range of products and brands. These in turn are driving demand for new packaging types and designs more frequently aimed at offering simplicity, cost-reduction and materials savings without sacrificing the benefits of convenient, easy-to-use and environment-friendly packaging design. These are the key findings of the new special interest report by Canadean*. Focusing primarily on new packaging developments and designs within the ambient heat-processed liquid food market, the report also contains an overview of the global liquid food market and an assessment of the current drivers of change from a retail, food processing and packaging perspective. Other key findings include: A continued shift towards plastics (especially flexible plastics and pouches) driven by demands for cost and materials reduction and a need for greater versatility in sizes, shapes and designs Increased presence of plastics pots for value-added, single portion products, for some traditionally canned products (fruit & vegetables and soups for example) Growth of liquid carton usage for condensed and evaporated milks Greater diversification of packaging choice for tomato products including aseptic cartons, tubes, flexible bags and bag- in-box Increased use of shallow plastic pots and aluminium trays for ready meals, including innovations such as microwavable portion pots for baked beans. Together these factors mean that, in spite of a general slowdown in consumer spending throughout the world, and intense pressure on margins, packaging innovation in the liquid food sector remains rife. It continues to play a key role and remains at the leading edge of marketing and new brand development in the changed market conditions. Aseptic pouch: a lightweight alternative After year s of development of its lightweight pouch concept and environmental thinking, the Swedish company Ecolean introduced an aseptic packaging system for liquid food products this spring. The new aseptic system can be applied to products with long shelf life in ambient conditions. "Ecolean's ambition is to offer a modern aseptic packaging system that is easy to operate and a package that satisfies the demands of the consumers," said managing director Peter L Nilsson. "Therefore we have chosen a completely new approach." Once empty, the pouches can be flat as envelopes The material is a flexible multi-layered polymer film consisting of 60% polyethylene and polypropylene and 40% calcium carbonate. Dry, non-chemical technology is used to sterilise the package, which ensures that food contact surfaces are never exposed to any chemicals during manufacturing or filling. This sterilisation process is separated from the filling machines and performed at the Ecolean production plants. The package weighs just 14 grams, a 40 to 50 per cent reduction on a conventional liquid food carton or bottle. Once empty it's flat as an envelope, which saves space in the rubbish bag. "With its unique thin material and durable, lightweight construction the package saves energy during production, transport and waste handling," said Mr Nillson. Generalising thNike