Food Processing - January 2008 - (Page 22)

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT WE’RE IN FAVOR OF RETORT REFORM. The Cryovac ® Onpack 2070. Now non-retort and retort films can run through the same vertical form fill system, lowering costs and increasing efficiencies. • Creates Flavour Mark™ retort pouches simply by adding a retractable fill tube. • Runs at speeds up to 10 ppm with the tube and up to 35 ppm without. • Accommodates pumpable products with and without particulates using two-part fill technology. • Accepts a wide range of pouch sizes and volumes. of what can make a salad craveable. Having a choice of the components makes the entrée salad even better. The key trends in the entrée salad area are convenience, flavor and healthfulness. Convenience: For entrée salads, both fast food operators and food manufacturers are responding to consumers’ fast-paced lifestyles by merging the product and the package to make the eating experience more convenient. The Hillshire package is designed for both mixing the salad and eating it. You do have to remember to have the salad greens available, however. Flavors: Entrée salads are about the type of salad (Chef, Cobb, Asian), the toppings (meat, cheese, crunchies – croutons, seeds, nuts, crispy noodles), the dressing (typically light these days) and other flavors, such as bacon. While the type of lettuce also is important, it comes in fairly far behind the toppings as far as enhancing craveability. Healthfulness: Salads were a classic diet food even before the current focus on obesity. They also satisfy current recommendations for more vegetables. However, many of the most craved salad components (meat, bacon, cheese, croutons, dressing) may work against the healthy halo. One way to get more nutrition, or at least a better perception of it, is to use different kinds of greens. For better or worse, this Hillshire Farm kit does not include the greens, so the consumer can choose any type of lettuce or even spinach, kale or cabbage. The portioning of the ingredients allows for portion control, and the nutrition facts allow a person to approximately control how many calories they want in their entrée salad. The experience Hillshire Farm Entrée Salads are available in 5.25-oz., clear, shrink-wrapped plastic bowls for about $3.19-3.50. We evaluated the Chicken & Bacon Club variety. Other flavors in the line are Chicken Caesar, Turkey & Ham Chef and Turkey and Cranberries. The package has a nice picture of the final salad on a plate – which can be confusing since right above the picture is a large burst that says “just add lettuce.” To For more information, visit us at www.cryovacapproach.com. the right of the salad picture is a list of the components provided: oven-roasted chicken breast, bacon crumbles, cheddar cheese, garlic and butter croutons and light ranch dressing. It also says there are one to two servings when the lettuce is added. When you open the lid, you see a lot of small packages. Each component has its own plastic or foil pouch. There were plenty of moist chunks of chicken, shredded cheddar cheese, real bacon crumbles, garlic and butter croutons and 1.5 oz. of light ranch dressing. The separation of the components helps retain ingredient integrity. Instructions say to combine the entire contents of package with 5 oz. of lettuce. So you better have 5 oz. of lettuce available. Not good if you are rushing like one of our tasters, who did not look and figured the lettuce was there. The chicken was an elongated chunk that gave you a real taste of chicken. The bacon had a passably real flavor but was a little tough. The thin strands of cheese made it hard to get real cheese flavor. The croutons were large and gave a good crunch. The combination of ingredients was consistent with the idea of a club – layers of ingredients, crispy and fresh. The big detractor was the dressing. It was thin, the victim of lowered fat. It was a real negative for some of our tasters, while others just used a very small amount. A few of our folks were put off by all the packaging even though they understood the reason. What really bothered a few was the note on the back of the nutrition panel that the container needed to be washed before using. What if you took all the components and were in the park? Since this is a product that many will WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM http://www.cryovacapproach.com http://www.cryovacapproach.com http://www.FOODPROCESSING.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Processing - January 2008

Food Processing - January 2008 Contents Editor's Plate NewsBites The Trends Rollout Food Biz Kids Product Spotlight Seventh Annual Manufacturing Trends Surbey Product Development Ingredients Plant Operations Plant Operations & Packaging New Supplier Products Toops Scoops

Food Processing - January 2008

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