For some time now, both manufacturer and distributor brands have placed the consumer at the centre of their strategies - by taking care of them, making things easier for them – and this is as important as their product.

An example of this willingness of brands to adapt to new consumption habits, some of which were reinforced during the pandemic, is the emergence of V Range products; these are ready meals that come in convenience packages which can be eaten easily at any time.

 

These foods are subjected to heat treatment, then packaged and marketed mainly under refrigeration; they are ready to eat with minimal preparation or simply by heating in an oven or microwave.

 

So what are the consumer demands for ready meals? More varied packaging formats, individual and family size, compartmentalised; of course; made of materials that make opening the container easy, while preserving or even extending the shelf life of the product; designs that allow the prepared food to be seen easily without major complications and which are attractive at the point of sale; communication that appeals to our nostalgia for “homemade meals”, made with top quality, natural ingredients that we can take home or to work; using environmentally-friendly, green containers, which can heated in the microwave or in the oven directly, without having to remove the food from the container. Also, from a point of view of social responsibility, we also demand the packaging makes it easier to reduce that scourge of modern society: food waste.

 

The first step is a proper choice of packaging to act as a protective barrier, preventing external agents from contaminating the interior. Active packaging, which can release or absorb substances in packaged food, is one of the current solutions already on the market which brands can use to achieve the goal of extending food shelf life. In addition, an ecological design is crucial to comply with new environmental policies to satisfy the growing environmental awareness of consumers. Finally, as these are refrigerated products, it is also essential that the cold chain is not broken during storage or transport by sudden changes in temperature that could damage the product.

 

For all these reasons, it is clear that the packaging of a prepared dish is a work of engineering, not without a certain creativity or art: Ready-to-eat innovation. This is what we want to talk about in this issue, with Daniel Palacio, CEO & Founder of Tutti Food Group (see cover), a recognised specialist in V Range culinary solutions, who is aware of all these problems and is committed to the values of sustainability and naturalness demanded by today's consumers. In the same vein and on these same pages, the reader will also find an interesting article on “Food Waste” and all its implications for packaging, prepared by ITENE.

 

Finally, it is worth highlighting the recent EMPACK Madrid 2022, which has become a fixture for packaging in Spain. Its format and philosophy are ideally suited to the current economic climate and it has once again attracted important packaging and label providers. The corridors of the show were filled with visitors; showing that the packaging sector still has the same strength and vigour it has always been noted for.

Fco. Javier Romero

Editor Infopack Magazine