Meat, Poultry, Seafood Packaging: Doing More with Less

Jul 31, 2023

Courtesy of Fresh-Lock

Packaging Strategies has reported extensively on the move toward eco-friendly packaging in multiple markets — from snacks to fresh produce to foodservice. A similar shift is underway in the packaging of meat, poultry and seafood.

It’s worth noting that FMI-The Food Industry Association and North American Meat Institute’s 2023 “Power of Meat” study found that 52% of meat eaters surveyed weigh environmental factors such as sustainability and recycling when making food and meat product choices at the grocery store.

Also, according to Mintel (Global Packaging Trends 2022), 36% of U.S. consumers have selected a product because it had more environmentally responsible packaging than a competitor.

In this article, we take a look at the recent achievements of several companies (and one university) when it comes offering more sustainable packaging for meat, poultry and seafood.

Handy Seafood announced in February that it has revamped the packaging for its retail line of frozen grocery products. Along with taking a more vibrant and contemporary approach to the designs, they’ve also emphasized sustainability.

The updated designs and coloration illustrate the flavorful, nutritious, and wholesome ingredients that Handy has become renowned for in its products.

In an effort to reduce single-use plastics, Handy has lessened its environmental impact by removing shrink-wrap from the exterior of all retail cartons.

“Our new packaging was aimed at consumers' desires for flavorful and easy-to-prepare seafood solutions delivered in packaging that is convenient and inviting,” said Maureen Johnson, Director of Marketing at Handy Seafood.

“The packaging is really your selling point, and the new designs put the company on the right track for delivering a powerful product line,” said Tom Quinn, Vice President – Retail Sales at Handy Seafood.

The Handy frozen retail line consists of Nashville Hot Shrimp, Old Bay® Crab Cakes, Old Bay® Mini Crab Cakes, Old Bay® Breaded Shrimp, Shrimp Power Bites, Thai Chili Shrimp Rolls, Gluten Free Crab Cakes, and Crab House Crab Cakes.

Handy Seafood, an innovative leader in the crab industry, is a family-owned company with over 129 years of quality seafood processing experience. Products include crab cakes, soft shell crabs, crab meat, seafood specialty items, and oysters available to foodservice and retail customers. Find out more.

Sainsbury’s announced in April that its by Sainsbury’s whole chicken range is now trayless, after the retailer removed single-use plastic trays from its packaging. Using a minimum of 50% less plastic, the change is estimated to save 140 tons of plastic annually.

The trayless products are available in all stores across the UK and online, helping to reduce the amount of single-use plastic customers have to dispose of at home. The change affects five products in total, including all by Sainsbury’s whole chickens ranging from extra-small to extra-large sizes.

The film packaging can still be recycled at one of Sainsbury’s front-of-store flexible plastics recycling points (available in all Sainsbury’s UK supermarkets).

The move is the latest in a string of plastic reductions as part of the retailer’s ongoing commitment to halve its use of own brand plastic packaging by 2025. In March, the retailer removed single-use plastic lids from its own brand dip pots, including household favorites such as guacamole, tzatziki and sour cream and chive dip.

Solidus, a leading paper-based packaging provider, attended the annual Seafood Expo exhibition in Barcelona in April.

Solidus showcased its range of transport packaging solutions, including environmentally friendly and sustainable alternatives to the usual polystyrene and plastic boxes used to pack fresh fish or other fish types.

Taking up to seven times less space than polystyrene boxes, minimizing shipping costs, optimizing palletization, and reducing storage space, Solidus’s solid board is the ideal and sustainable material to package round fish, salmon, and fresh fish. For fresh fish, the company provides a specific type of box including holes with a food-safe PE coating, ensuring that the box is water repellent and that the fish stays fresh during transport and storage.

At the tradeshow, customers learned more about Solidus’s circular strategy, which transforms recycled paper-based products into packaging and other solid board applications such as point-of-sale displays, sustainable transportation pallets and partitions. Find out more.

Winsight Grocery Business reported in March that several grocery chains have tested new case-ready meat packaging from Tyson Foods that’s more eco-friendly and extends product shelf life.

Called “flow wrap,” the packaging uses about 50% less plastic and 50% less energy in the manufacturing process versus traditional expanded polystyrene product packaging, according to Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson. The flow wrap packaging was developed to keep the meat fresher — up to three times longer — and its airtight environment also helps maintain color and allows consumers to freeze the product without affecting quality, the company said.

As of mid-March, flow wrap packaging had been introduced only for ground beef, but it was being considered for other case-ready meat products. Grocery retailers that have piloted or are piloting the packaging include Hy-Vee, Meijer and Festival Foods.

Other benefits of flow wrap packaging include no leaks, drips or mess; clear packaging that enables shoppers to see both sides of the meat; and easy-open tear edges, Tyson noted.

“We’re pleased to offer a straightforward and immediate way for retailers to meet the demands of the environmentally conscious consumer while also doing our part to minimize plastic waste,” Rikki Ingram, director of fresh meats marketing at Tyson Foods, said in a statement. “A recent consumer tracking survey showed consumers are willing to pay 20% more for more sustainably produced fresh meat products. New packaging, like flow wrap, is one way suppliers can help retailers meet consumer demand.”

Researchers at McMaster University in Canada have created a new packaging tray that can signal when salmonella or other dangerous pathogens are present in packages of raw or cooked food such as chicken.

The new technology will enable producers, retailers and consumers to tell in real time whether the contents of a sealed food package are contaminated without having to open it, preventing exposure to contamination while simplifying cumbersome and expensive lab-based detection processes.

The prototype tray, shaped like a shallow boat, is lined with a food-safe reagent that allows a built-in sensor to detect and signal the presence of salmonella. The technology can readily be adapted to test for other common food-borne contaminants, such as E. coli and listeria.

“This is something that can benefit everyone,” says researcher Akansha Prasad, the co-lead author of a paper that describes the invention, published in the journal Advanced Materials. “We’re hoping this technology will save lives, money and food waste.”

There is a lot at stake with food safety, says researcher Shadman Khan, co-lead author on the paper. “We wanted to develop a system that was reliable, quick, affordable and easy to use.”

The sloped sides of the tray direct juices to a sensor embedded in a window at the bottom. Users can scan the underside of the sealed package with a cellphone and know immediately whether the food is contaminated without additional lab work.

Having easy, instant access to such information would allow public health authorities, producers and retailers to trace and isolate contamination quickly, reducing potentially serious infections and cutting back significantly on food waste by identifying precisely which lots of food need to be recalled and destroyed, compared to broad recalls that end up wasting unspoiled foods.

Further, the researchers say, protecting consumers from contaminated foods will create significant health-care savings.

Globally, there are about 600 million cases of food-borne illness every year, largely attributed to the consumption of pathogen-contaminated food products.

The McMaster researchers and their colleagues have been working for several years on related technologies, all aimed at creating simple, inexpensive tools to prevent and detect food contamination.

Their work is part of McMaster’s Global Nexus School for Pandemic Prevention & Response.

Brad Addington is Chief Editor of Packaging Strategies and Flexible Packaging. He has more than 25 years of B2B publishing experience following the fresh produce industry, foodservice, retail, petroleum refining, petrochemicals, renewable fuels and sustainability. He and his family live in Spokane, Washington, and enjoy participating in regional triathlons and marathons. Brad majored in Journalism and Latin American Studies at the University of Kansas.