FDBusiness.com

At Ecopack, Nicholl Food Packaging will showcase its variety of tray packing solutions, demonstrating their versatility and suitability for a wide range of food applications as well as highlighting their numerous sustainability benefits.

The company is planning to launch a number of new lines into its already extensive portfolio which includes smoothwall and wrinklewall foil trays (the largest range in Europe) as well as compostable and ovenable board variants and lidding films.

Smoothwall trays feature a smooth rim, which allows each tray to be hermetically heat sealed with standard film on high speed machines. For extended shelf life, gas flushing techniques can be incorporated into the filling and sealing phases of meal production.  The trays are suitable for many different products including ready to cook meat, poultry and fish, ready meals, barbecue products, vegetables and heated desserts.  In particular, they help to minimise the handling of raw meat and poultry.

All aluminium foil trays benefit from a robust, heavy-duty construction for effective product protection with easy handling properties that ensure maximum consumer convenience.  They are unaffected by both extreme hot and cold temperatures and maintain their strength and rigidity throughout storage and cooking.  They are also suitable for use in modern microwave ovens.

Their light weight and effective food protection properties offer sustainability benefits in terms of energy savings during transportation and reduced food waste.  In addition, aluminium trays have been awarded ‘Widely Recycled at Recycling Points’ labelling under the British Retail Consortium’s On-Pack Recycling Label scheme

Another sustainable tray solution on show will be the Stora Enso DeLight® ovenable paperboard tray which features a polymer coating and injection moulded rim to ensure a gas tight lid seal suitable for MAP applications for processed foods. The strength and performance of the tray means it may not require a carton or sleeve, helping to reduce the total amount of packaging material used, and it has the option of full colour printing to enhance consumer appeal.  The tray’s hybrid construction offers an ultra-light material and a largely renewable content.  Wood material is sourced from traceable and responsibly managed forests, while the high share of bio-energy used in the production of paperboard makes it possible to show a low carbon footprint.

Nicholl will also show a range of specialist multilayer flexible barrier films from Plastopil, including Toplex HB AL for the sealing of Nicholl’s smoothwall tray range.

Toplex films are specially formulated for a wide variety of products such as chilled and frozen meat, poultry, seafood and cheese to optimise shelf life and reduce freezer burn.   They can be specified in high, medium or low barrier and are available in a range of thicknesses, including some of the thinnest barrier flexible films, meaning they can be tailored to the precise requirements of individual products and applications.

“Ecopack provides a very effective spotlight on the hugely important topic of sustainability,” comments Paul Ogiliev, Head of Sales, Nicholl Food Packaging. 

“The exhibition attracts a knowledgeable and focused audience and is the ideal forum for us to showcase our packaging solutions.  We know sustainability remains high on our customers’ agendas so we expect the 2013 show to be as busy as ever.”