Join the chilled food 'revolution'
Retorting involves cooking meals after they have been sealed in pack. Its many advantages include offering a shelf-life up to three times that of a regular chilled meal. However, the disadvantage was that the film was welded to a crystalline polyethylene terephthalate (CPET) tray resulting in a poor presentation and requiring the consumer to open with a sharp implement.
To face this challenge, Neil Rockliff, Greencore Prepared Meals’ innovation and insight controller has collaborated for the past two years with packaging specialist Sealed Air Cryovac to develop a new easily peelable film.
Trials have proved successful and the firm is rolling out the new peelable film across all retort meals.
“Overcoming this became a key focus for Greencore and took extensive trials and refinement to achieve,” says Rockliff.
“This is a major step forward in the manufacture of retorted ready meals. It now gives the consumer a better experience, and it also gives the retailer an opportunity to extend the shelf-life of ready meals while utilising a packaging format that is familiar to consumers. This can only be a good thing considering the rising importance of sustainability and reducing food waste.”
Contact: Sealed Air Cryovac
