“We provide packaging that sets the food apart and makes it easier for someone to make a quick decision so they can get on about their busy day.”
That’s how Lucian Gray, director of North American business development for Sealed Air/Cryovac’s Food Care/Foodservice Division, describes the food packages his company offers for food retailers. Sealed Air, the inventor of bubble wrap, about 20 years ago bought Cryovac—“the people who really invented vacuum packaging,” he explained. “We are part of the brand of Cryovac and the Food Care Division.”
Gray then explained the value of his company’s products and services for the supermarket sector.
“Retail is very competitive, and we provide operational efficiency for retailers; longer shelf life for retailers; and the kind of private labeling that differentiates them for their consumers, be it the Baby Boomers, the Gen Y, the Gen X, the Millennials, the ones coming behind them,” he said.
Cryovac packaging can be used with both fresh and frozen food items. Vacuum-packed, aseptically packaged items can last up to two years; frozen foods also can last that long.
“Then we have things that are chilled, and their shelf life can be 21 days,” Gray told The Shelby Report. “We pride ourselves on extending the shelf life with zero head space, vacuum packing, modified atmosphere packaging and technology that scavenges oxygen from the atmosphere to extend the life of proteins.”
Gray said that packaging for take-home dinners is a growing segment for Sealed Air/Cryovac. A decade ago, that category was “almost nonexistent” for the company, but now is growing every year, he said.
An exciting innovation for Sealed Air/Cryovac is its Simple Steps technology, which is used for foods that are going to be heated in the microwave.
“It provides an opportunity to actually watch your food steam-assist cook in the microwave,” Gray said. “Instead of being cooked by microwaves, which are uneven at best even with a turntable in your home microwave, this allows for that doming effect of the plastic to trap moisture in the product and cook with the steam universally. So there are no hot or cold spots in the cooked food. It’s very revolutionary, very exciting.”
Helping retailers’ bottom lines is “important in all the packaging we come up with.”
“We can reduce the overall operator costs from cuts, slips and falls and cross-contamination as well as the extended shelf life we offer,” he added. “We provide operators and retailers with a wide variety of great packaging to protect their brand so their consumers can shop with confidence and know they’re getting the very safest and very best food possible.”
