Food Processing - April 2008 - (Page 50)

pack aging frigerated case of supermarket produce departments, Freshtables are fresh fruits and vegetables augmented with chef-inspired sauces and flavors. The 12 oz. of Freshtables in the bag cook in two minutes in the microwave. The package material is a proprietary adhesive lamination suited to microwave temperatures, and the bag features a hermetic seal to prevent the product’s lowviscosity sauce from leaking. The consumer does not puncture the bag prior to cooking. The package, which builds up internal pressure when microwaved, uses EsterSteam technology from American Packaging Corp. (www.ampkcorp.com), Rochester, N.Y. “There’s an invisible steaming valve that automatically opens up in the microwave, and that’s what allows control of the steam venting. When it reaches the right temperature and pressure, it automatically releases the appropriate amount of steam,” explains Darci Eckermann, senior vice president of Sholl Group II. The packaging supplier designs the lamination with a customized oxygen transmission rate for each product so the produce can breathe during shipping, merchandising and home storage. Thanks to the packaging, Freshtables exhibit 14 days of shelf life, refrigerated. Entrées for everyone In the freezer case, both single-serving and family-size entreés are reaping the rewards of microwavable and dual-ovenable package innovation. For single-serving frozen entrées, ConAgra Foods Inc. (www.conagrafoods.com), Omaha, Neb., uses its unique microwave Steam Cooker package for Healthy Choice Café Steamers. Once again, steam cooking protects the quality of the cooked product, preserving flavor, color and texture. Bell AG is trying to get consumers in Europe comfortable with microwaving chicken or steak with packaging made by Cryovac. The one-dish Café Steamers meals are packaged with vegetables, meat or seafood and pasta or rice in a steamer basket that nests in a plastic bowl. The bowl holds each recipe’s signature sauce. As the sauce heats and ultimately boils, steam rises and cooks the items in the steamer basket. When the microwave cooking cycle is complete, the consumer simply removes the package’s plastic cover and mixes the food from the basket with the sauce in the bowl. In a category noted for convenience, the Café Steamers package takes that a step further. There’s no need to peel back plastic lidding, puncture an overwrap, stir the product midway through cooking or dirty a dish. Multi-serving frozen entreés require other types of packaging to overcome the hurdles of microwave cooking. Wal-Mart Great Value Lasagna, which is a family-size product, uses a specially designed evenheating tray to assure uniform cooking. NOtE tO MARkEtING A coupon attached to the film lidding on a frozen food tray stands a better bet of catching the consumer’s eye than a coupon printed on the carton. But what if the consumer forgets to detach the coupon from the lidding before putting the product in the microwave or conventional oven? Not a thing, if the processor uses a heat-resistant film created specifically for such applications. WS Packaging Group Inc. (www.wspackaging.com), Green Bay, Wis., developed such a film-paper-film construction, which is rated heat-safe to 500º F. the oven-safe film protects against fire even if a consumer cranks up the oven’s temperature in hopes the food will cook quicker – or selects the proper temperature but forgets to take the food out when cooking is complete. WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM http://www.kemcosystems.com http://www.ampkcorp.com http://www.ampkcorp.com http://www.conagrafoods.com http://www.wspackaging.com http://www.kemcosystems.com http://W.FOODPROCESSING.COM

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

Food Processing - April 2008 Contents Editor's Plate NewsBites The Trends Rollout Food Biz Kids Consumer Taste Test - Indulgent, Superpremium Chocolate...at 3 Calories a Pop Cover Story - Annual Capital Spending Report - To Build or Not to Build? Ingredients - Trendy Fruits, Nuts and Vegetables Plant Operations - iPlant: Assessing the State of Automation Plant Operations - Your Sanitation Can Be Greener Packaging - For Which Oven? MRO Q&A New Supplier Products Toops Scoops

Food Processing - April 2008

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