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Clear retortable plastic can debuts

McCall Farms is first to commercialize this three-piece coextruded plastic can. Product visibility is the key, but it certainly helps that for the most part it’s a drop-in replacement for steel cans.

McCall Farms is first to commercialize this three-piece coextruded plastic can.
McCall Farms is first to commercialize this three-piece coextruded plastic can.

For many years now the idea of a clear retortable plastic can suitable for a wide variety of food applications processed in continuous rotary equipment has been nothing short of the holy grail where the packaging community is concerned. A few such cans have managed to make it to store shelves, but it’s safe to say that for the most part, clear retortable plastic cans have been slow to take hold.

That may change with the launch late last year of seven bean varieties under the Glory Farms brand from Effingham, SC-based McCall Farms. The beans are in a clear, three-piece, five-layer coextruded can. Steel top and steel bottom are seamed on and then induction-sealed for good measure.

The launch is significant because it marks the commercial debut of the TruVue® can from Sonoco. That firm’s Steve Gendreau, Vice President Sales and Marketing Global Plastics, joined McCall Farms’ Marketing Director Annie Ham in a February 8 presentation describing the launch at The Packaging Conference, produced by Plastic Technologies, Inc. and SBA-CCI, Inc.

Differentiation on the store shelf is the key attraction that this container holds for McCall Farms, says Marketing Director Ham. “We saw this innovation as an opportunity to differentiate ourselves on the canned vegetable aisle with a new transparent package that gives the consumer the cues of freshness and superior quality that they can see. In addition, we received input from several area retailers that they would be interested in testing this new package.”

It certainly helped, she adds, that Sonoco, a $5 billion global packaging company and innovation leader, was just a few miles down the road in Hartsville, SC. “Given their headquarters location and our long-standing relationship with them, they were the ideal partner for this project,” says Ham.

Drop-in replacement
McCall was also drawn to this container because it’s pretty much a drop-in replacement for the traditional steel can. In fact, McCall runs it on a line that is also used for metal cans. The line is anchored by a 42-pocket Zacmi filler and 60L PneumaticScaleAngelus seamer. The plastic container can be retorted at 267 degrees F, it offers a shelf life of 2+ years, and, just like its steel counterpart, it can be filled and seamed at 500 cans/min. Suggested retail price for the 15-oz can from McCall Farms is $1.49.

Early in the evaluation process, McCall Farms worked with AcuPoll Research on an on-line survey to see what consumers thought of the clear can. Encouraged by the results, they moved to an in-depth qualitative study with 55 consumers at Sonoco’s IPS studios in Hartsville. The response from consumers was “overwhelmingly positive,” says Ham, “particularly when we showed them light-colored products such as garbanzo beans where it was most obvious to them that the can was clear.”

Armed with such quantitative and qualitative research, McCall Farms proceeded to launch seven bean varieties in Q4 last year in Harris Teeter and Ingles supermarkets. First, however, they had to come up with a new brand, Glory Farms, under which the plastic can could fly. Since the transparent can was aimed at pleasing a new target audience, one that is looking for a healthful, easy-to-use alternative to fresh, the firm felt that a new brand was in order, one that would appeal to this new customer base.

“We are encouraged by the initial results that we are seeing on shelf, we’re actively testing new and different types of products for the TruVue can, and we are committed to our plans to grow the Glory Farms brand,” says Ham.

Equally bullish on the can is Tom Outlaw, Vice President of Procurement for Ingles Markets. “Glory Farms’ new clear can brings much-needed excitement to the canned vegetables aisle of the store,” says Outlaw. “There’s a lot of packaging innovation on the perimeter of the grocery store but nothing new in canned goods. McCall Farms’ commitment to packaging innovation is a big plus for the category.”

Body is coextruded
So how exactly is the TruVue can manufactured and how does it differ from others of its ilk? First of all, the can body isn’t injection molded, blow molded, or thermoformed. At Sonoco’s pilot plant in Hartsville, it’s made by first coextruding a five-layer tube in a long horizontal orientation. The tube consists of PP/tie layer/EVOH/tie/PP. “The materials themselves are not unique, but the way in which we process and handle them is,” says Sonoco Director of Corporate Communications Brian Risinger. “We produce a continuous tube, we cool it, and then we cut it into individual units that subsequently have 300 diameter easy-open steel ends applied on top.”

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