Minimize food waste and cut costs for meat and seafood with skin film packaging

*Petteri Oksanen, an expert in meat packaging who has worked with countless Amcor meat customers, shares his experience. *

To make products appealing to shoppers, I’ve worked with meat and fish producers using SkinTite® second skin films, which fit tightly around the product to make it look as attractive and delicious as possible.

A question I often get is what’s the difference between a skin film and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP)? SkinTite® second skin film guarantees longer shelf-life and unrivalled product presentation for meat products. One of the biggest benefits of vacuum skin packaging (VSP) is the prolonged shelf life it guarantees. Compared to MAP, brands can easily gain 4-6 days more shelf life. If normal shelf life is 8-10 days, VSP offers 14-16. The ability to be displayed on supermarket shelves for more than two weeks is a huge advantage and its smooth presentation removes the “ick” factor some shoppers can have when selecting fresh meat.

Better sustainability and reducing plastic use is a goal many of our customers have. When used as part of the SkinNova® packaging solution, the SkinTite® skin film combines with a flat cardboard base that's combined with our high-barrier liner. Using the SkinNova combination, our customers have reduced plastic by 70% per pack compared to conventional MAP packaging.

Here’s a deeper look at two benefits of skin packaging:

Less food waste

VSP removes all ambient air around the product, eliminating exposure to oxygen. This allows the product to adhere more closely to the protective tray and film, reducing the risk of physical damage and extending the product’s shelf life.

Thanks to SkinTite®’s seal integrity, in-store leaks are minimized, which helps to reduce food waste. Data (2) shows us that consumers perceive food as undesirable when it differs visually from the “normal”. Think messy leaked packs and blood stained meat counter. Yuck!

Using SkinTite® films has also meant a longer shelf life that leads to improved product availability (through the weekend) and a better cooking experience as the meat gets time to mature in the pack. Shelf life and the presentation of the meat itself both have a strong impact on the “buy/don't buy” choice in the store, but also on the “consume/don't consume” choice at home.

A fifth of all the food that is produced in Europe becomes waste, equating to 88 million tons of food being lost on a yearly basis.(3) A significant proportion of this occurs at the consumption stage and is related to consumer behavior. Packaging using SkinTite™ films can help consumers buy and use food in portions that match their needs.

Cost savings for meat producers and retailers

Extending shelf life by 4-6 days gives brands possibilities for new logistics solutions. Product packaging and shipping doesn’t have to happen so quickly, and once products do get to the grocery store, there isn’t such a rush to sell them or reduce the cost before the sell-by-date.

In addition to this, lighter weight VSP lowers transportation costs and reduces overall carbon footprint.

Switching to SkinTite® is a simple transition. For the last 15 years, Amcor’s R&D team have worked on packaging optimization for meat and protein products (light-weighting and downgauging), so that we can offer a range of packaging solutions for different applications. For example, we have solutions for softer products like sliced cooked meats as well as steaks with bones and sharp edges.

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Sources:

1.Wrap study: Consumer attitude to food waste and food packaging
2.Conceptual Models of Food Choice: Influential Factors Related to Foods, Individual Differences, and Society
3.European Commission: Food waste: The problem in the EU in numbers.