The SAVE FOOD Initiative has now passed the 1,000 member mark. The 1,067 supporters currently registered include groups of companies, corporations and professional associations as well as research institutes and NGOs from the entire food value chain. With Lidl Deutschland as the latest member, retail is now also represented as a link in this supply chain.
Consumer trends have contributed to a gradual replacement of rigid pack formats by flexible packaging during the last decade or so. Total flexible packaging sales were at $219.5 billion in 2016, with growth expected at an annual rate of 4.3% to $282.6 billion by 2022.
Render, a food company based in Healdsburg, Calif., just launched a snack line called State Bird Seed. A collaboration with award-winning chefs Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski, owners of restaurants State Bird Provisions and The Progress in San Francisco, State Bird Seed is a crunchy mix of puffed quinoa, seeds, herbs and spices that can be enjoyed as a snack or crumbled as a topping on oatmeal and yogurt to salads and meat.
The newest advanced Pack 430 PRO X-ray system scans mid-sized packages such as chips, crackers and cookies, and detects and automatically rejects recall-causing contaminants like glass shards, metal fragments, mineral stone, some plastic and rubber compounds.
Consumers have become accustomed to having a wide variety of foods available to them from all corners of the world, no matter what season it may be. The days of being able to eat what is grown or raised on your own plot of land are long gone, especially as the world becomes more urbanized.
Exhibitor applications for interpack 2020 Processes and Packaging, are now available online. The deadline for reserving exhibit space at interpack 2020 is February 28, 2019. The trade fair will be held from May 7–13, 2017 at the fairgrounds in Düsseldorf, Germany. A special feature at interpack 2020 will be the U.S. Pavilion, organized by Messe Düsseldorf North America.
Duravant LLC, a global engineered equipment and automation solutions provider, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Key Technology Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of digital sorting, inspection, conveying and processing equipment. The transaction significantly extends Duravant’s reach across food processing with new complementary products and applications.
Tree Top has launched its apple sauce in clear, see-through pouches. The new line-up includes six healthy, on-the-go fruit pouches. This is the first transparent pouch in the apple sauce category.
Smart & Final Stores Inc.—the neighborhood warehouse grocery store—selected packaging design agency Voicebox Creative to refresh the look of its signature First Street private label brand, which makes up over 75 percent of Smart & Final’s private label sales.
Videojet recently surveyed engineers and plant managers in North America about both their understanding of remote capabilities and the benefits of using them. The results point to the need to clarify what remote capabilities are and how they can help keep lines and plants running more smoothly and predictably by today’s standards and the growing trend toward the IoT.