Total Package

The five winners of this year’s Produce Marketing Association packaging awards all showed that companies can combine convenience, food safety, sustainability and effective marketing when developing consumer packaging.

“PMA founded its Impact Award program in recognition of the important role packaging plays in connecting with consumers, enhancing food safety, sustaining the environment and improving supply chain efficiencies,” said PMA’s President and CEO Bryan Silbermann. “We’re pleased to highlight those who have demonstrated such innovative thinking.”

The winners were announced during PMA’s 2011 Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition in Atlanta, Ga. in mid-October. The award recognizes companies that lead the way with exceptional produce and floral packaging, and demonstrate originality.

The 2011 Impact Award winners were:

apio squash

Apio and Clear Lam Packaging jointly submitted the Peel/Reseal Apio Squash Package. It was developed by Clear Lam Packaging and provides consumers with an intuitive easy opening and closing feature for portion control. The peal/reseal film eliminates the need for traditional rigid lids and shrink-bands. The technology is incorporated into the lidding film, which can be printed to maximize branding opportunities. The film also can be hermetically sealed to a tray to help extend freshness.

Processors can apply the new peel and reseal lidding on conventional tray sealing lines. Modified atmosphere packaging can also be incorporated. The new package can be used for cut vegetables, fruits and other food items.

live gourmet lettuce

Hollandia Produce won with its “Live Gourmet Living Lettuce Squircle Clamshell & Shipping Container.” The harness-style shipping carton was the result of years of a company-wide investments of time, talent and financial resources to achieve the ultimate package for its Live Gourmet Living Lettuces, according to Hollandia Produce CEO Pete Overgaag said.

“Every aspect of our new package was examined to see how we could optimize the new design to insure we met and exceeded all merchandising, physical protection, food safety, sustainability, transportation and packaging criteria,” he said.

The new Squircle design is an attractive improvement on the antiquated design of the company’s original package that will help differentiate its Live Gourmet Living Butter Lettuce from all other living lettuce grower shippers, said Director of Marketing Vincent Choate.

An eye-catching, colorful and communicative label compliments the new design and acts as a tamper evident seal for the new package, he said.

“Target consumer and frequent user focus group studies suggest the new optimized design achieves the goal of continued brand recognition while attracting first time buyers with its colorful and distinctive design,” he said. “

Source reduced elegantly redesigned and supremely functional, the new Squircle clamshell package meets and exceeds merchandising, physical protection, food safety, sustainability and transportation packaging criteria for the 21st Century.”

ocean mist artichokes

Ocean Mist Farms‘ winning entry was its “Season & Steam Microwavable Artichoke Pack.”

“Consumer research told us that many shoppers view prepping of artichokes as the major barrier to purchase,” said Kori Tuggle, director of marketing and business development. “By doing the prep work, we make eating fresh artichokes easy and convenient.”

The bag features two, fresh Globe artichokes that are cleaned, trimmed and ready to cook. The innovative packaging gives users the option to open the bag, pre-season the artichokes to their preference, reseal the package and steam by microwave all within the same bag. The ability to pre-season the artichokes (prior to cooking) is an exclusive convenience attribute to the produce department.

monterey mushrooms

Monterey Mushrooms won with its “Sustainable Mushroom Packaging.”

The company replaced styrofoam packages with a domestically-produced, natural custom-engineered, corrugated paperboard material – conforming to FDA standards for food safety – that is a totally new, and greener, form of mushroom packaging. Monterey Mushrooms also incorporated a new graphic design into the packaging to deliver an impactful image and clear message regarding the health benefits, usage and versatility of mushrooms.

“We have been actively engaged for many months to develop new, innovative, sustainable packaging to reinforce the natural quality, flavor and nutrition of our mushrooms,” said Shah Kazemi, president and CEO of Monterey Mushrooms.

naturipe berryquick

Naturipe Farms’ winning entry was for its “BerryQuick Snacks” that was developed by looking at some of the best practices in the snacking industry and applying those to a blueberry product, said Robert Verloop, executive vice president for marketing at Naturipe Farms.

“We didn’t think of ourselves as a blueberry grower, we thought of ourselves as a snack item, a convenience item,” he said.

The result was BerryQuick, a single serving of blueberries in a fun and attractive package. The design of the packaging is flexible, and Naturipe will be able to adapt with size options for different markets. At launch, the product was available at retail with three single-serve packages, but the company hopes to launch into vending machines and foodservice, especially the school cafeteria.

What makes the BerryQuick product unique is its appearance. Blueberries have always been shipped with the “white bloom” intact. That’s the natural waxy barrier that protects the fruit and extends its shelf life. But that bloom also harbors molds and yeasts that break down the fruit and shorten shelf life. Naturipe removes the bloom using a confidential and proprietary solution that is used by NASA for space flights and the Navy in submarines. It is FDA compliant and the ingredients are generally regarded as safe, Verloop said.

The postharvest application to remove the bloom gives the berries a bluer, better appearance, he said. The packaging allows customers to see the product and lets the natural attributes sell it.

By removing the bloom and putting the blueberries in a modified atmosphere packaging, Naturipe is able to get a three-week shelf life out of the product. The oxygen transfer rate film on the package maintains the correct humidity, replacing the need for the natural wax of the bloom.

Matt McCallum, publisher

 



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