Repackaging efficiency and innovation for the meat industry in Australia and New Zealand

It doesn’t come as a huge surprise that the meat industry is big business down under. In fact, Australia is one of the world’s largest and most efficient producers of commercial livestock and a world leader in the export of red meat and livestock. According to Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), the total value of Australia’s off-farm beef and sheep meat industry is approximately AU$17 billion.

Neighbouring New Zealand is tracking impressive numbers as well. During the year ended in June 2015, total exports from the sheep and beef industry were NZ$7.3 billion (AU$6.5bn), around NZ$600 million (AU$535m) more than the previous year (according to the Meat Industry Association [MIA]).

As local meat processors and retailers develop their strategy for the remainder of 2016, a closer look at the effectiveness of their packaging materials and systems should be a key consideration. While often overlooked, enhanced packaging technologies can offer operational and brand building benefits that can ultimately reduce costs and drive sales.

One increasingly popular quality validation solution among Australian and New Zealand retailers and meat manufacturers is vacuum packaging. This format’s tight vacuum seal forms a ‘second skin’ that limits oxygen exposure and reduces product purge. These two parameters are crucial when it comes to extending product shelf life and maximising product freshness.

Unlike traditional modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), skin-tight vacuum seals protect products from freezer burn, allowing consumers the flexibility to store products in the fridge or freezer and potentially capitalise on retail sales and deals by purchasing for future use. For retailers on the other hand, shelf life extension provides longer distribution and merchandising windows — in both instances, product shrinkage and waste are minimised.

Packaging innovations

Over the last few years, the packaging sector has transformed from an industry well entrenched with cans and cartons to a new era of innovative solutions, challenging the way food manufacturers, operators, retailers and even consumers think about packaging. And this trend is no different when it comes to meat packaging.

As a leader in packaging innovations, Sealed Air has recently developed the Cryovac Darfresh on Tray vacuum packaging system, which responds to the growing demand for more sustainable, case-ready packaging for fresh meat.

Key benefits of the new packaging technology

When it comes to processing and packaging fresh red meat, pork and poultry, even the smallest savings can quickly add up. The Darfresh on Tray vacuum packaging system provides numerous operational efficiencies that save time and resources, while reducing waste and overall costs. This drives significant economic benefits for retailers, manufacturers and consumers.

For instance, Darfresh on Tray machines run on average 35% faster than other skin pack and rollstock technologies. This results in:

• increased productivity — more product can be produced in the same amount of time increasing kilograms per man-hour;
• reduced utility costs — less water and electricity are needed in the packaging process on a per kilogram basis;
• reduced capital costs — three Darfresh on Tray machines can do the work of four standard machines (other skin pack and rollstock technologies). With these cost savings most processors will recoup their investment in 12–18 months.

To achieve this, the Darfresh on Tray system utilises a new skin film cutting process. The skin film and preformed tray dimensions align perfectly, allowing for 100% skin film utilisation and therefore zero film scrap. This results in up to 40% less materials being used compared to other skin pack and rollstock technologies. It also reduces the amount of materials being shipped to landfills.

Storage and shipping are essential, though frequently overlooked elements of food distribution. Sealed Air’s Darfresh on Tray vacuum packaging system reduces distribution costs by utilising space more effectively. This means that in comparison to MAP, distributors can fit 25–50% more products packaged with Darfresh on Tray into storage and shipping boxes. This saves significantly on costs by cutting down on the number of trucks needed to ship the same amount of meat and contributes to a smaller carbon footprint.

“As the Australian and New Zealand food industries face added pressure to reduce costs, state-of-the-art packaging can serve as a differentiator that delivers value in a crowded meat case,” Sealed Air Food Care Market Manager, Ready Meals & Darfresh Paul McGuire said. “Our new Cryovac Darfresh on Tray package offers an unparalleled combination of freshness and retail presentation, enabling manufacturers, processors and retailers to offer customers the highest quality meat and poultry available.”

Additionally, Darfresh on Tray more than doubles the shelf life of red meat to keep it fresh for longer when compared to the standard MAP process. This is important for consumers, as it means that meat in this type of packaging will last longer in the fridge and essentially facilitates a more satisfying eating experience due to protein maturation under vacuum conditions. The packaging also guards against freezer burn during frozen storage, which avoids dehydration of the product. This freezer-friendly option is suitable for consumers who many not have the opportunity to use the product before its best for date and allows consumers to benefit from buying on sale.

Wasted efforts

Consumers in Australia and New Zealand are increasingly aware of not only the economic cost, but also the ethical cost of food waste. And considering Australians consume an average of 40.9 kg of red meat each year according to MLA, any way that food manufacturers and retailers can ensure that none of this goes to waste will bring significant cost savings for the meat industry, and ultimately, the consumer.

But there is still a long way to go to ensure this.

Each year in Australia, around 4 million tonnes of perfectly edible food ends up rotting in retail and consumer bins, and for New Zealand, it is estimated families bin a total of 122,547 tonnes of perfectly good food every year.

But the waste goes far beyond the groceries thrown in the bin: when food is wasted, everything that was invested in producing and transporting that product is lost. Consider the fresh water, animal feed, man-hours, fertiliser and even the fuel emissions that were part of the process.

From farm to processor to retailer to consumer, food waste is happening at every step in the supply chain. By focusing on innovation and harnessing the power of technology and data, manufacturers and operators can do a lot to reverse this trend. It starts with addressing challenges earlier in the food chain, streamlining operations and ensuring the packaging solutions guarantee the longest shelf life possible to ensure the product can be consumed before its due date.

Labelled for success

Consumers in Australia and New Zealand are also taking greater interest in the origins and contents of their meat products, motivated not only by health and ethical considerations, but a perceived need to validate paying higher prices for value-added products.

For meat processors and retailers, this increased engagement opens the door to leverage packaging as a branding tool and differentiate themselves from competitors. Greater on-package transparency is becoming the norm, meeting growing consumer demand for clean labelling. As a result, headlines such as ‘gluten free’ and ‘organic’ are increasingly common.

Active packaging technologies, such as those that remove oxygen or odour from the package, offer another potential avenue to make cleaner label products available. Maximising packaging’s branding potential also includes consumer-friendly functionalities. Features such as easy-open, reclosable or portioned packaging can drive consumers to a specific product.

What lies ahead

In such a dynamic, yet heavily regulated and scrutinised industry, packaging technologies will not be the answer for every challenge. However, leveraging innovative packaging solutions to maintain quality, offset labour needs and provide differentiated products is not only vital to meeting some of the meat industry’s most pressing challenges, but also in preparing to surpass the global obstacles that lie ahead for exporters.