Page 12 - Food&Drink magazine April-May 2023

PIDA AWARDS 2023
Sustainability wins the night
In the first Australian Institute of Packaging gala gathering since Covid, this year’s PIDA Awards was the night of nights for the packaging and design fraternity.
“As a result, we’re seeing a rise in new sustainable, high barrier structures, across fibre-based; compostable; and monomer plastic materials, as well evidenced in this year’s selection of finalists.”
AND THE WINNERS ARE...
There were two High Commendations awards for the category: Australian Organic Food Co. Minestrone Soup mono material retort pouch by Flavour Makers and Toppan Inc.; and DualPakECO compostable food trays by Confoil and BASF. Both of these innovations went on to win Gold in the Sustainable Packaging Design categories, for Mono Materials Advancement and Compostable Materials respectively.
The Bronze winner was Vitor Grapes ‘hippie punnet’ by NAVI Co Global, while the Silver winner was EarthPouch High Barrier Quad Seal by Mikro Coffee Roasters and TCL Hofmann.
Topping the category with the Gold was JBS Swift Lamb Cutlets Cryovac Darfesh Mono-PET rollstock by Sealed Air.
GOLD WINNER IN FOCUS
Australia’s largest meat and food processing company JBS Foods Australia and packaging supplier Sealed Air won the top prize for the packaging used for JBS’ Swift brand of quality lamb products.
The winning innovation is described as a “purposefully simple design where less is more”.
On retail shelves dominated by printed or black packaging formats, the clear recyclable pack allows the product to be the hero and allows consumers to see both
sides of the product. This, the company believes, is another reason consumers have come to trust this 168-year-old global brand. “What you see is what you get”, and there’s no need to dispose of a soaker pad that can commonly be found in fresh lamb retail packs.
Sealed Air’s Cryovac Darfresh mono-PET vacuum skin pack offers the combination of high barrier (low oxygen environment) together with the top web contouring the protein allowing for extended shelf life. An 18-day fresh-chilled shelf life was achieved with this pack, which equates to less product waste across the value chain.
For processors, it means efficient batch manufacturing, further product distribution and enhanced sales. For retailers, it means longer merchandising periods, less retail markdowns and less waste. And for consumers, it means a longer window to consume product as it can be frozen.
While this pack is designed to protect against food waste, it also offers sustainable packaging principles such as optimising material efficiency and design for material recycling. JBS switched to a mono-PET rollstock to address both recyclability and material efficiency. The company says the new design has proven to deliver the optimum level of protection against abuse and spoilage, without compromising product quality or safety.
BEVERAGE CATEGORY
The Beverage Packaging Design of the Year award recognises organisations that have designed
IT was an evening to remember for the 330 packaging professionals gathered in Melbourne on 28 March for the long-awaited in-person gala dinner presentation of the AIP’s Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design Awards, or the PIDAs as they are better known. Food & Drink Business, along with sister media brand PKN Packaging News, has been the exclusive media partners since the programme’s inception nine years ago.
As ever, the Food Packaging Design category was hotly contested, with nine finalists vying for the Gold. The award recognises organisations that have designed innovative packaging and/or materials, within food packaging and processing including fresh,
frozen, or other categories. “The food manufacturing
sector is one of the biggest end users of packaging, accounting for over 70 per cent of all converted packaging,” said Food & Drink Business publisher Lindy Hughson, who was co-host of the 2023 PIDA awards.
“It’s also a highly competitive sector, where trends are a moving feast, and a constant stream of product innovation is required to feed consumer’s changing tastes and maintain shopper interest, and thus market share.
“But the biggest demand driving packaging design comes from the requirement to package food in sustainable materials – which includes designing for recyclability and compostabitlity, while also designing to prevent food waste.
12 | Food&Drink business | April/May 2023 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au