Page 37 - Food&Drink magazine July 2022

LEFT: Constantia's ComforLid combines aluminium and plastic materials. RIGHT: Fresh Fodder co-founders Fiona and Max Schofield.
packaging and around 40 per cent less space to transport the same quantity of products.
CONSUMERS WANT
(AND WILL PAY FOR) SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING As consumers increase their demand for sustainable packaging, Australian dips and dairy producers must adapt their products. Those businesses that don’t adapt their packaging risk not only their reputation, but a reduction in sales.
There are a multitude of eco-friendly and recyclable material options for product packaging available to the dips and dairy market; ones that can be seamlessly incorporated into existing production processes, by the means of the very same machinery used for other material manufacturing.
Given consumer demand for sustainable packaging options, many conventional packaging concepts are set to evolve. For instance, plastic snap-on lids for yoghurt tubs are already becoming less popular and are being replaced by new solutions that reduce the packaging’s overall plastic content.
MACHINERY THAT IS FIT FOR PURPOSE
To produce high quality dairy food packaging, machinery that is fit for purpose is required.
There are several solutions that cater exclusively to dips and dairy product packaging, such as lidding and cupping. For instance, the Ilpra FS2500 Rotary Cup Filler is a mechanical rotary filling and sealing machine with eight stations, designed to fill dispensable plastic cups and containers with liquid and semi-solid products.
Recently, Australian family-owned boutique producer of hand-crafted dips, Fresh Fodder, tripled its productivity rates using this solution, after experiencing a major surge in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Max Schofield, the managing director of Fresh Fodder, says, “As demand began to rapidly pick up, there soon came a point where our previous operational capabilities were outrun, which is where the investment in the FS2500 came into play as a crucial tool to increase our productivity and efficiency levels.
“ Today, the packaging of a food product can be just as important as the product itself.”
“Since the machine was installed in October 2020, we have streamlined our manufacturing to produce three times the amount of our existing throughput with the same headcount of staff. This has had the biggest overall impact on our bottom line. As a business, we are now seeing a huge 25 per cent growth year-on-year, so upgrading to this new solution has allowed us to optimise operations and keep up with our current and future growth.”
THE RIGHT PACKAGING MATTERS
Today, the packaging of a food product can be just as important as the product itself. The sensory importance of packaging – its look and feel – gives dips and dairy producers a competitive edge, and a point of difference
compared with other similar products in the market.
Alongside quality branding, reliability and recyclability are fundamental to successful packaging options. Strong and reliable packaging allows products to be protected throughout all stages of the supply chain cycle, while ensuring their shelf-life is as good as it can be once the product reaches the supermarket shelf.
As a 40-year leader in packaging innovations for a diversity of industries, Jet Technologies locally supplies the latest industry innovations from Europe and across the globe to the Australian dips and dairy market, offering reliable and high-end manufacturing and packaging solutions to lead the industry into a sustainable and more efficient supply chain. ✷
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | July 2022 | Food&Drink business | 37