Foods and packs with a high service content

How the market of “Fresh food & convenience” is evolving: ready-to-eat foods that don’t require cooking, either because they are already cooked or semi-ready and only require heating, but also frozen, to be cooked or to be consumed as they are.

Widely used abroad, and for a long time, ready-to-eat foods of various kinds are also emerging on the Italian market. Ready meals are sold mainly in the large-scale retail trade, but also through delicatessens.
Based on the latest data available, in the first half of 2018 the online sales channel of ready meals grew by 80% compared to the same period of the previous year.
According to the Coop Report on Italian consumption in 2018, ready-to-eat products once again represent the great success of the moment.
In Italy, consumption related to convenience food mainly relates to lunch breaks, at which time it is possible to consume a type of food that is considered healthier and tastier than the usual sandwich, or cheaper when compared to a restaurant lunch. Abroad, the phenomenon also extends to domestic consumption: according to some estimates for central and northern Europe, for example, only in one home in three is cooking done every day. In recent times, however, even in Italy this mode is increasingly used, as demonstrated by the exponential increase in online food orders.
The targets most interested in convenience food remain single people and, in general, the under 25s. The constant growth of consumption of ethnic foods has provided, also in our country, an important contribution in this area: in 2018 consumption in Italy grew by 27%.

Market and types
Convenience foods constitute a wide range of different products, ranging from appetizers to first courses, to continue with second the second course, fruit and desserts.
In 2018 too Italy registered a good growth rate, albeit at a slower rate than in 2017: the growth in volume of fresh food and convenience foods should in fact settle at around 6%.
In 2018, 13,397 t/000 of products related to this category were packaged in Italy, 80% attributable to first courses including frozen dishes, ethnic first courses and soups.
12.9% is accounted for by fresh cut and lightly processed fruit and vegetables (salads, fruit salads, cooked vegetables, etc.).
Fresh fish products include both appetizers and main courses - with the exception of sushi - and represent 1.2%.
The frozen foods listing (0.9%) includes pizzas, while the “Other” listing (5% of the entire range) includes the various meat-based preparations (vitel tonné, meatballs, various stews, etc.) savory pies, sushi and dessert.
The expectations of Italians regarding this type of product are very high, as is the case throughout the entire food area: the product must be made with good quality ingredients, look good in terms of appearance but above all excellent in taste.
Even with regards to packaging, we are very demanding: packaging must bear witness not only to the excellent technical qualities but must also be aesthetically appealing.
In analysing the Italian consumption of fresh produce, a discreet shift in preferences towards products with imposed weight must be highlighted, to the detriment of those with variable weights. The phenomenon concerns above all the fruit and vegetable sector of the large-scale retail trade, partly due to the introduction of purchasable biodegradable bags used in supermarkets. From the quantitative point of view, in 2018 the sector registered a + 0.8%.

Packaging: Characteristics and figures
As these foods, as we have seen, are high in service content, the packaging must be rated accordingly.
Food must be preserved to maintain the main characteristics; in fact, if on one hand the organoleptic qualities must be maintained, on the other hand the shelf life of the product must be taken into account, which can be 1 day or several months, as in the case of frozen foods.
Another fundamental element for packaging is the ability to communicate the main information in a precise and immediate manner.
For this reason, many leading companies have opted to use color codes on the packages, which facilitate the identification of the type of product. It is also of fundamental importance that the packaging contains unequivocal messages relating to the content such as, for example, the absence of preservatives or gluten, the use of EVO oil rather than aromatic spices.
To get to the quantities of packaging used in this sector, based on the analysis of the data taken from the Data Base of the Italian Packaging Institute, in 2018 approximately 501,000 tons of primary packaging were used. If we add to these the secondary, like the cardboard boxes essentially attributable to the frozen food area, the figure of 510,000 tons of packaging is reached.

• Regarding the primary packaging, that is the packaging in direct contact with the product, a clear prevalence of plastic is found. The types of packaging used are trays of both PET and polystyrene (about 75%), bags and trays in flexible polylaminate (15%), aluminum trays (9%), cardboard packaging (1%).
• The total packaging used to package “convenience foods” (trays and pouches) represents about 40% of the total plastic packaging used in the food industry (excluding beverages).
As for packaging with plastic trays, this involves almost all types of ready meals, including fresh fruit and vegetables, such as ready-to-eat salads and including seasoning and cutlery, as well as freshly cut fruit.
• The plastic trays are mainly made of PET or in flexible coupled converter material (with a thickness not exceeding 0.2 mm).
• The converter flexible is used both to produce the bags destined to pack both fresh-cut fruit and vegetable products, and to produce the tops of the trays or tubs of ready-made products. 90% of these closures are produced with a film of flexible laminated material, heat-sealed to the tray, which allows to preserve products with a shelf life of more than 48 hours and all foods packaged in modified atmosphere.
In all other cases a plastic film can be used or, again, the packages can be closed with lids of the same material as the tray.
• The aluminium tray is used almost exclusively for delicatessen products, and is present both in large-scale distribution and in the small delicatessen shop; in some cases it is also used for online order deliveries. The closure is mainly a plastic cover.
• As for the cardboard containers, mainly used for express delicatessen products, it should be noted that they have an internal coating that creates the barrier effect. The cellulose container actually becomes a rigid coupling.

Barbara Iascone
Istituto Italiano Imballaggio