Fresh and convenient

Consumption of ready meals, packaged and refrigerated for retail, is on the rise. Increasingly popular even among Italians, these products find their packaging of reference in the Freshware line by Linpac Packaging*.

Italy is one of the main European markets for prepared and refrigerated foods, with an imposing market share of 14.1%. At the root of this development are demographic changes (at least 70% of the population lives in urban areas and, already in 2010, one Italian in five was more than 65 years old) and consequent changes in consumption habits, particularly food consumption. «There are many important phenomena in this sense - observes Cristiano Madama, managing director of Linpac Verona - from the search for fresh and healthful foods to the need for easy to open packaging capable of preserving food for a long time, as well as the need for simple and quick to prepare and cook food.
But that’s not all: the foods also need to have an inviting appearance and be presented in such a way that makes it easy to quickly identify the “right” one at the point of purchase. For all these reasons, ready meals represent the ideal solution: convenient and simple to use, they are increasingly winning the hearts of consumers».

For the consumer and for the environment
The packaging range developed by Linpac under the Freshware brand includes tubs, jars and containers for ready fruit, salads, vegetables, sauces, sandwich fillings, fresh pasta, refrigerated bakery goods, cooked meats and prepared fish. Many formats are available for one or two servings, with all the characteristics of easy open, recloseability and easy gripping and use, also thanks to cutlery included and recloseable trays.
Linpac has made them extremely light, keeping in mind that, according to the most reliable sources, the demand for rigid plastic packaging for ready and refrigerated foods in Italy will grow by 23.4% during the next four years, and it is therefore indispensable to limit their environmental impact.

For this reason, Freshware containers reduce consumption of materials and energy, and thus the carbon footprint and cost of recycling; furthermore, some packagings contain a high percentage of recycled materials, processed directly by Linpac with a sanitization technology capable of guaranteeing, or better yet surpassing, the standards of food safety. Cristiano Madama explains: «Freshware keeps foods fresh longer and helps reduce food waste, without compromising either hygiene or presentation». Examples? «The ziplock box Vertiwrap® for flatbreads and tortillas is designed to guarantee maximum protection and at the same time preserve freshness: moreover, it’s made from rPET and can be placed vertically, displaying its contents directly from the shelf. Considering another type of solution, Vertifresh® packagings for salads are made up of multiple recloseable trays to keep the salad, dressing and proteins separate and guarantee longer shelf life».   
                          
* Linpac Packaging (Linpac Group) is one of the major international producers of primary packaging for fresh food products and catering solutions. Founded in England more than 40 years ago, it operates around the world through a network of 16 facilities and 23 branches spread across 34 countries.