Top Seal Packaging - the way of the future?
Fresh produce packaging has been revolutionised in other parts of the world over recent years. Tesco, M&S and Sainsbury are all using top seal packaging for fruits and vegetables in the UK – there is barely a clamshell in sight! While slower to get started, North American companies have been show casing top seal punnets with berries and tomatoes and other fresh produce at various produce conferences and exhibitions for the last few years with great success. There is also a clear theme of top seal being in the finalists and winners at various produce packaging competitions across the globe.
While the larger western markets are seeing the benefits of evolving their pack types, the question back home is when are growers, packers and retailers in Australasia going to start appreciating the benefits of top seal packaging?
International research has confirmed that the majority of consumers have a preference for top seal packaging over the other more traditional formats. This preference increases to 77% when consumers find out that they can save 30% in the volume of packaging materials.
The trend is not just led by the desire to change things up, there are a raft of benefits to top seal that New Zealand could be leveraging for both domestic and offshore markets.
Consumers are benefiting from features like:
- Greatly increased shelf appeal
- End customers quickly identify the product as looking less ‘packaged’
- Crystal-clear transparency, resulting in high product visibility
- Strong anti-fog performance
- Excellent ink adhesion for surface printing
- Product safety, tamper evidence
- Optimisation of distribution and logistics
- Shelf life extension technology
- Peel and reseal
- A raft of eco-friendly, sustainable, and compostable fibre and plastic option
One potential barrier customers may see for shifting to top seal is the cost of plant modifications. In many of our installations we are seeing our Proseal equipment slot into place with minimal plant modifications and the equipment is very fast to get up and running. Where cost of equipment is a barrier, the team at Jenkins have calculators to assist in establishing payback periods and equipment can be rented or leased to trial for part of or a whole season before committing further.
In most cases the capital equipment does not need to be a barrier to giving your products a lift and getting them flying off the shelf, talk to Ann about the options for giving your product a lift.
