At the Harpak-ULMA PACK EXPO Las Vegas booth, a key emphasis was on a package format not seen very much in the U.S. but that is increasingly popular in Europe: trayless ground meat backflushed with a mix of oxygen and carbon dioxide and wrapped on a flow wrapper (1).
Image #1 in the article text.
Harpak-ULMA Flow Wrap Product Manager Hugh Crouch, who also talked about the format at an Innovation Stage presentation, believes this concept has a shot at being adopted in the U.S. because by eliminating the tray there’s not only a cost savings but also a source reduction advantage. In addition to removing one whole piece of packaging by going trayless, you also eliminate the trucks and the fuel they would consume when trays need to be delivered. As Crouch puts it, “Just send a roll of film to the meat packer and that’s it.”
