Stay informed on the latest innovations and technologies in packaging and processing within the food and beverage industry. This category covers the companies, equipment, and materials that are transforming how products are packaged, processed, and delivered to consumers. From sustainable packaging and smart technologies to advanced processing equipment and automation, explore the solutions that are driving efficiency, safety, and sustainability across the entire value chain.
Tide Rock, an unlevered buyout firm with a portfolio of B2B businesses, has acquired Glenn Wayne Wholesale Bakery, a family owned and operated full-line bakery manufacturer.
Founded in 1990, Glenn Wayne Wholesale Bakery has built a reputation for producing high-volume, high-quality baked goods, including donuts, muffins, Danish pastries, cookies, brownies and others from its full-line manufacturing facility, strategically located in Bohemia, N.Y. The company’s commitment to efficient operations and quality has enabled it to expand its reach and distribution nationally.
“We are excited to add Glenn Wayne Bakery to the Tide Rock portfolio and help this successful company reach the next stage of growth,” says Brooks Kincaid, president of Tide Rock. “Glenn Wayne has tremendous opportunity to broaden its customer base and explore additional opportunities for expansion. The bakery market has proven to be one of the most resilient categories within the food industry, and their newly obtained gluten-free certification opens several new markets.”
Glenn Wayne’s 40,000-sq.-ft. facility and 6,000-sq.-ft. warehouse location provide expansion opportunities and are strategically located near priority distributors and customers. The facilities are certified by the NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets Food Processor License (Article 20-C), FDA Facility Registration, BRCGS Gluten Free Certification, SQF Food Manufacturing Certification (Level 2), Kosher Certification (Kof-K), and Ethical Kosher Certification.
“From our humble beginnings in a 1,000-sq.-ft. building, we have always prioritized innovation and quality,” says Glenn Alessi, one of the founders of Glenn Wayne. “Over the years, we’ve invested heavily in building a strong business with high quality products, operationally efficient processes and well-run facilities. Today, we are proud of our automated production processes, inventory management and ordering systems, as well as our clean facilities and warehouse and our incredible employees. We look forward to working with Tide Rock to continue this legacy and achieve greater growth.”
Hardy Process Solutions is introducing a line of accurate, rugged and reliable drum scales that provide flexibility in size and capacity for use in a range of drum weighing applications.
HIDS Drum Scales are built to perform and last in heavy industrial environments, yet they are easy to use and install with the latest advancements in weighing technology.
Hardy Drum Scales are available in painted steel with alkyd enamel paint with a tread deck or smooth deck in two sizes: 30 by 30 in. and 36 by 36 in. Each size comes in 500, 1,500 and 3,000 lb. capacities. They feature access holes in the decks for load cell servicing and cleaning. With a deck height of 1.5 in., they are easy to load and unload with an optional 12-in. ramp.
Purpose-built accessories such as indicator columns, ramps and Hardy swivel mount weighing instruments extend ease of use and compatibility for a range of applications. Weight processors can be mounted on the indicator column or mounted on a wall nearby for easy reading.
HIDS Drum scales are engineered for low maintenance and greater reliability in heavy-use applications. They include Hardy Process Toolbox features, including C2 automatic calibration, which saves time and the cost of a scale technician for calibration. A built-in HI6011 Junction box with Integrated Technician saves on the cost of using a service for diagnostics and troubleshooting. Users just level the deck, attach the included 20-ft. cable to the weighing instrument, calibrate (if users are operating a C2 compatible instrument, they only need to set a reference), verify and begin weighing. This saves hours over leveling and balancing the scale with unmatched load cells.
“Hardy has built its C2 weight-free calibration technology into every scale, delivering the lowest total cost of ownership on the market,” says Jeff Moen, product manager. “C2 calibration saves time during commissioning and replacement, removes extra personnel from processing areas, and keeps your manufacturing process cleaner by eliminating the need for potentially contaminated test weights.”
The heart of any scale is the load sensors. All HIDS Scales come standard with four matched stainless steel, IP67 HISLB load cells calibrated for mV/V and mV/V/ohm. This eliminates the need for corner adjustment and potentiometers in the junction box, allowing a sensor to be replaced without calibration. With a threaded hole into which the load cell foot is attached, the load is applied at a precise location to provide an accurate reading, weighment after weighment.
Earlier this month, a massive rubbish dump in the Ugandan capital of Kampala collapsed, killing 26 people. In this article Ceris Turner-Bailes, Chief Executive of WasteAid, tells us about her experience of visiting the dumpsite prior to this tragedy, and the steps that need to be taken to prevent anything like this from happening again.
The tragic deaths of 26 people, including children at the Kiteezi dumpsite in a suburb of Kampala this month brought home the terrible dangers of unmanaged waste.
The accident was caused when a section of the dumpsite collapsed onto houses that were perilously close to the edge of this vast area, killing those trapped underneath – many of whom likely relied on the site to eke out a living waste picking for items to sell.
I visited the Kiteezi dumpsite earlier this year when WasteAid opened its first-ever programme in Uganda. It was a visceral reminder of the scale of the challenge we face and also the risks faced by informal waste workers every day. Poverty forces these people to comb through the mounds of rubbish and make their homes in flimsy structures within touching distance of the mountains of waste.
There are 2,500 tonnes of waste generated daily in Kampala and around 1,500 tonnes of that waste finds its way to the Kiteezi dumpsite. As with many countries where WasteAid works, there is no formal waste management system and large, dangerous dumpsites within sprawling cities are a common sight.
Waste management is underfunded, there are few formal collection systems and scarce government resources mean there is little investment in infrastructure, and critical services such as dumpsite management.
This situation is exacerbated by population growth and significant internal migration into cities across Africa, putting a strain on infrastructure still further and contributing to the growth of the informal sector as population rises outstrip formal employment opportunities.
We’ve found that there is a general lack of expertise and focus on waste management practices at local and national levels, but there is a desire to do more and our approaches and programmes are welcomed and embraced. However, more is needed.
For the most part, it is the private sector and particularly informal waste workers who fill the gap that is left by a lack of waste management services. It is highly likely that those killed and injured in this terrible tragedy were themselves informal waste workers, living close to the dumpsite in makeshift structures that were also the only places to store their collected waste before it was sold on.
Informal waste workers face enormous challenges in their day-to-day lives, yet they fulfil a critical role. They are exposed to numerous health and safety risks while collecting and sorting waste, including exposure to hazardous materials, sharp objects and unsanitary and unsafe conditions.
They often lack access to personal protective equipment and proper training to mitigate these risks and they lack access to social protections. This leaves them vulnerable to health risks, economic insecurity and social exclusion. Informal waste pickers work in precarious conditions and earn low wages, making them economically vulnerable and socially marginalised.
It is with this knowledge that WasteAid implements programmes focused in equal measure on supporting local councils, communities and the informal sector to move the dial on waste management.
In Gambia we are linking experts from within the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management with local authorities in the capital of Banjul to tackle technical waste management problems. Our flagship Wastepreneur programme has just started in Uganda and within this programme we deliver health and safety training alongside business and life skills training and mentoring for those on the first rung of the waste recovery ladder.
Trainees have the opportunity to pitch for small injections of investment that can be life changing for them and their microbusiness. It can support them in moving away from risky and dangerous practices.
It is imperative that there is more focus on and support for waste management systems in Africa and that circular economy approaches are embraced, equally more knowledge transfer and support to policy makers and local authorities can hopefully avoid tragedies such as this one in the future.
On May 30, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)announced the approval for a reorganization plan designed to enhance its oversight and protection of the human food supply. This initiative includes the establishment of a unified Human Foods Program (HFP) and a new model for field operations. The implementation is currently set for October 1, 2024.
The new HFP will integrate functions of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Office of Food Policy and Response, and key elements from the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA). The latter will change its name from ORA to the Office of Inspections and Investigations (OII) to better reflect the realigned focus of inspections, investigations, and imports, and “provides real-time insights and science-based evidence necessary to ensure the safety and quality of products Americans depend on.”
The reorganization aligns with recent legislative mandates, including the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act and the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022 which require the establishment of the Office of Critical Foods and modernization of cosmetics regulation.
According to reporting from Chemical Watch, the FDA is monitoring the phase-out of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from grease-resistant paper food packaging. This follows a February announcement that manufacturers have ceased selling PFAS-containing grease-repellent coatings due to safety concerns.
The agency expects the phase-out to significantly minimize PFAS exposure from authorized food contact uses (FPF reported). Since March, the FDA has been collecting and testing food packaging samples to assess the presence of PFAS, with results expected by September. In total, 150 samples of coated and non-coated food contact papers and molded-fiber materials will be analyzed (FPF reported). Items of interest include microwave popcorn bags, butter wraps, frozen entrée trays, and boxes for fatty foods.
Some major restaurant chains have already switched to PFAS-free packaging, with many states having enacted bans on these chemicals (FPF reported). In case of Maine, PFAS-containing fiber food packaging will be banned from May 25, 2026 onward, while Rhode Island has set its ban on using PFAS in food packaging and processing for 2027. Certain states, including Vermont, Connecticut, and Colorado are expanding their respective PFAS bans to include cookware, as reported by Packaging Law.
Moreover, the FDA plans to publish a food chemical work plan by the end of 2024. This will detail substance assessment activities and a draft revision of its chemistry recommendations for food contact substance premarket submissions, according to Chemical Watch. This document will serve as guidance for businesses in assessing whether their products are generally recognized as safe (GRAS). To reflect modern packaging trends, the FDA plans to halve the recommended food mass to packaging surface area ratio, potentially doubling the calculated migration of substances to food and increasing the required safety data for no-migration or GRAS claims.
The average factory electricity bill varies across the manufacturing industry. The dairy industry hovers around 5% to 8%, and breweries cite 5% to 10% of their operating costs on energy. Factory electricity bills for meat processors can reach 15%, and the sugar industry touches 30%.
However, food and beverage manufacturers are targeting energy, water and material consumption as they invest in automation tools, system software and modern processing equipment. The upshot of these digital plant investments is that companies are discovering inefficiencies and paths to continuous reductions in plant resources due to actionable plant data.
Operators have been adding equipment sensors and “quick-win” automation tools to produce more actionable data, while management is going big with evaluations of energy management systems. “Advances in instrumentation by various manufacturers have significantly enhanced data collection and analysis,” says Tim Barthel, executive vice president at Cybertrol Engineering. “Modern systems now offer far more data than what was realized from an analog signal just four years ago.”
Cybertrol Engineering, a full-service control system integrator and certified member of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA), offers a configurable clean-in-place (CIP) solution that allows users to define and adjust cleaning parameters like flow rates, temperatures, chemicals and duration, and optimizing the process for various equipment via real-time monitoring.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the food and beverage manufacturing industry is one of the most energy-intensive manufacturing sectors in the country, accounting for approximately 8% of the total energy consumed by all manufacturers.
“Many companies are moving beyond legacy controls, which have limitations in capabilities, and toward newer, more advanced technologies,” says Barthel. “These advancements not only improve the reliability and performance of CIP systems but also demonstrate measurable return-on-investment (ROI) through increased productivity and reduced downtime.”
Many manufacturers also move beyond legacy controls and add new processing machinery to reduce energy costs and improve efficiencies. Handtmann, a supplier of a range of food processing equipment, offers smart OEM digital solutions that tackle specific applications. The company’s equipment offerings include the entire process line.
For Handtmann, servo motors are a part of its equipment designs. “Energy efficiency is one of the biggest talking points when it comes to purchasing,” says Shawn Kentch, training manager at Handtmann. “Some suppliers have not switched to servos, and this type of motor is much more efficient than an asynchronous motor.”
Handtmann’s machinery uses advanced automation to produce controlled temperatures, integrated movements and continuous monitoring. The company’s vacuum filling machines can limit product giveaways to less than 5 lbs. in a 10-ton production run and result in $144,000 in annual savings.
Proof-of-Technology Projects Save Money
A German cheese producer, Milchverwertung Ostallgäu (MVO), relies on advanced instrumentation and a turnkey solution from Endress+Hauser called the Steam and Water Analysis System (SWAS). The German cheese and butter producer processes more than 140,000,000 kg of milk annually, and water is treated at the plant’s sewage treatment plant. The entire staff includes 45 employees.
Before acquiring the SWAS instrumentation, the company relied on manual readings of the boiler for pH or conductivity and created additional maintenance logs since these readings are required by law. The automated SWAS technology tracks quality-related water parameters within the boiler system and uses a compact panel to help operators gauge these levels.
At MVO, the SWAS panel includes:
Sample cooler
Pressure reducing valve
Electrical temperature protection valve
Overflow valve
Flow assembly and Memosens sensors for conductivity and pH
Liquiline transmitter
Flow measurement
EcoGraph T RSG35 recorder for paperless data recording of the measured values is mounted on the panel
The turnkey system can analyze the following parameters: pH/ORP, dissolved oxygen, conductivity (total, cationic/acid, differential), turbidity and total organic carbon (TOC). “We have been able to significantly increase operational reliability and meet our verification obligations with less effort,” says Simon Gutensohn, managing director of Milchverwertung Ostallgäu.
“By focusing on proof-of-technology, companies can better allocate their resources, including labor, materials and capital, ensuring that only the most promising technologies move forward to larger-scale implementation,” says John Tertin, director of solutions engineering at Cybertrol Engineering.
Survey says you need Industry 4.0 before AI: “Regarding the role of #AI in predictive maintenance (#PdM), only 8% of those surveyed are currently operating a PdM strategy. However, 76.5% want to shift to PdM in the future.”
In addition to turnkey solutions, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are adding features to reduce water and material consumption. Vanmark’s skid-mounted peeler machinery—for potatoes, apples, beets and more—reduces water consumption with its reclamation system that recirculates processed water.
The Vanmark system removes peel waste from process water, collects it and recirculates filtered water back into the peeler in a closed loop.Image courtesy of Vanmark
“Water usage is a major consideration, and usage can be expensive,” says Mike Barber, sales manager at Vanmark. “Customers are concerned, but potato processing requires water, so it’s about conserving the freshwater used.” Vanmark’s machine equipment removes peel waste from process water, collects it for sale and recirculates filtered water back into the peeler in a closed loop. Then, the filtered water from the settling tank is pumped back to the infeed end of the spray bar system at each peeler.
Freshwater consumption per peeler is reduced to 0.5 to 2 gal./thousand (GPM) during regular operation. The recycled water is drained and flushed periodically. Moreover, the OEM also offers an option via its system starch separator for its line of Lamina Hydrocutting equipment. According to Vanmark, traditional potato processing includes 2% of water being bled out and is continuously replaced with clean water. The supplier’s system starch separator creates a cyclone in the line that pushes the starchiest water to the pipe’s edge and removes the water. This new feature reduces water consumption for the “bleeding process” while providing the right level of cleaning.
Brau Union Scales Energy Management System
As factory electricity bills increase, countries are working with industries to reduce demand and increase utilization at the plant level. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the food and beverage manufacturing industry is one of the most energy-intensive manufacturing sectors in the country, accounting for approximately 8% of the total energy consumed by all manufacturers.
One solution to reduce electricity demand at plants is adding energy management platforms that are tied into automation in the plant. Capturing energy usage from equipment, processing operations and other applications allows large food and beverage companies to find substantial reduction in energy bills. Siemens’ new white paper “Energy Data Management in the Food and Beverage Industry,” explains the components, industry drivers and how to integrate real-time data into machines and automatically record and evaluate energy requirements. Siemens’ offerings include the SIMATIC Energy Manager and the S7 Energy Efficiency Monitoring interface that connects to the cloud-based Insights Hub, which is part of the Xcelerator business platform.
Energy management platforms monitor plant assets, and these lessons then can be applied to other plants. Brau Union’s ambitious energy management project started by identifying approximately 1,000 measurement points for five sites.Image courtesy of Siemens Industry
Brau Union, the parent company of Heineken, has been focusing on energy efficiency for decades. The brewer recently rolled out a proof-of-technology project that automatically records and evaluates all media and energy flows from six brewing sites. This ambitious project started by identifying approximately 1,000 measure points throughout the first five sites.
To acquire this energy data, low-voltage main distribution boards are retrofitted with SENTRON PAC 3200 power meters. These values are acquired by the Energy Manager in 15-minute cycles via Modbus/TCP networking to match the data intervals of the power utilities’ energy data acquisition. “If we later see a roll out at other sites, they can be seamlessly and easily integrated due to the scalable program layout of the SIMATIC Energy Manager PRO,” says Johann Hölzl, head of process automation at Brau Union Austria.
In addition, batch processing data from the plants’ SIMATIC IT manufacturing execution system (MES) is also read by the energy management system for evaluation.
While batch processing energy usage at Brau Union is connected via controllers, other non-connected meters need traditional manual maintenance checks at the breweries. The Siemens energy manager app for iOS and Android allows maintenance to record energy consumption data from meters not connected to the energy data management system. Operators use the app to record energy data and transfer it to the central data management system. To do this, they simply scan the QR or barcode of the corresponding meter, enter the current reading into the smartphone and then SIMATIC Energy Manager displays the value.
The Austrian Wieselburg brewery is the first to implement the scalable energy solution and reduced its annual energy consumption by 0.6% in its first year.
This platform approach also allows food and beverage manufacturers to zoom out and understand possible capital expansion needs at plant sites. With growth comes capital expenditures on infrastructure like cabling, pipelines and supply systems. However, companies may not need to expand infrastructure if there is unused capacity, according to Siemens.
A 2% reduction in energy usage for U.S. food and beverage manufacturers would result in $180 million in annual savings.
General Mills Cracks Energy Savings
As companies began to address systematic energy usage, General Mills has improved energy usage across 26 U.S. manufacturing sites from 2012 to 2018. The company launched this energy savings leadership position by participating in the Department of Energy’s Better Plants Challenge. For the first six years, the company improved energy usage by 2 MMBTUS and saved more than $5 milion at its 26 plants.
Recently, General Mills worked with ThinkIQ and used its machine learning algorithms to forecast a savings of $480,000 annually with the food and beverage giant’s energy bills. ThinkIQ’s software as a service (SaaS) platform identifies and forecasts “blind spots” within manufacturing sites by implementing an informational model to capture data, visualize plant applications and promote machine learning.
“An information model brings a standardized approach to what the data should look like and ensures all constituents benefit and go to one place (for the data),” says Rob Schoenthaler, chief revenue officer at ThinkIQ in a June 2024 Food Engineering article.
The Steam and Water Analysis System from Endress & Hauser can be a standalone monitoring system or integrate into your existing PLCs, using various interfaces such as analog, digital or via IIoT connectivity.Image courtesy of Endress & Hauser
For this energy modeling project at General Mills, ThinkIQ created and applied new data modeling and analytics to quickly point out energy savings opportunities by identifying periods of high energy consumption.
Below are the components for the modeling at General Mills:
Equipment and process energy models for a generic factory environment
Pump SM profile
Mixer SM profile
Tank SM profile
Python based machine learning predictive tools for power consumption and estimating energy usage at equipment and plant level
Energy management tools for the CESMII SMIP
The data capture and visualization targeted common equipment, such as motors, drives and packaging equipment while building a user interface to enable users to build energy consumption models. The SaaS tools produced visualization for unknown energy consumption and deviations from baselines in the plant. The results of this project included an expected 2% reduction in energy utilization when General Mills’ Chanhassen plant implements these smart manufacturing tools.
ThinkIQ also licenses its technology to the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Institute (CESMII), which promotes adoption of Industry 4.0.
Reading Bakery Systems (RBS) has appointed baking industry veteran David Welch as sales manager for Europe.
In this role, Welch will be responsible for selling RBS equipment and process solutions to clients across the region.
“David brings a wealth of biscuit, cookie and cracker experience, which will expand our already strong position in the European snack market,” says Joe Pocevicius, director, EMEA & APAC for RBS. “His deep process and technical knowledge will undoubtedly make him a key contributor to the ongoing growth of RBS and our customers in Europe.”
Welch is a senior engineer with more than 20 years’ experience in food manufacturing, primarily focused on biscuit, cookie and cracker production. Prior to joining RBS, he held positions including commissioning engineer, engineering project manager and chief engineer at Baker Perkins. Additionally, he worked as engineering project manager at Cerealto, overseeing the implementation and start-up of a new facility.
Welch holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
When Sonoco announced plans to acquire European metal packaging specialist Eviosys in a nearly $4 billion deal this summer, the packaging giant made its intentions clear: It was betting big on metal food cans.
At a time when novel materials and formats are proliferating in packaging and food companies rely on innovation to drive sales in some areas, sources say utilitarian canned food remains attractive because it’s a relatively stable market with consistent growth.
Pre-acquisition, Sonoco was bringing in $1 billion in annual revenue from metal packaging in the U.S., including aerosols for household products, along with cans for vegetables, tomatoes and beans. Sonoco expects the deal will expand its total addressable market for metal packaging to $25 billion globally.
Competitors such as Crown Holdings (which is more focused on beverage cans) and Silgan see potential for growth in canned pet food and proteins.
A big reason packaging manufacturers are so confident in metal food cans is because their CPG customers have stuck with the material for decades. And many in the packaging industry don’t see that changing.
While flexible pouches have sparked interest from some new food brands, many manufacturers are doubling down on cans. Canned food offers a more affordable option to consumers, and companies have an opportunity to market their products to sustainability-aware consumers; proponents of can packaging say its “infinite recyclability” gives it a leg up.
“Consumers want to feel good about their environmental impact, and cans are a way for us to navigate that,” said Robert Loggins, director of external affairs and community engagement at Bush Brothers, the Tennessee-based company that manufactures Bush’s Beans. “It’s almost a perfect packaging container.”
Bush’s can suppliers include Sonoco and Crown. Bush’s has a long relationship in particular with Sonoco, and a Sonoco plant in Tennessee is right next to Bush’s production facility.
“Having those two companies has been really vital [and] inherent to our success,” Loggins said.
What cans can do
Bush’s has been canning for more than a century, and canned food dates back to 1795. Today, canned fruits and vegetables, soups and ready-to-eat meals are driving growth in the industry, according to Chris Chop, senior lab technician in food research and development at NSF, an independent standards and certification organization.
Vegetables and tomatoes are a big part of Sonoco’s can portfolio; the company forecasts low single-digit growth for those categories, as well as soup.
Whenever CPGs add new recipes or products, that also helps grow demand for canned packaging, said Ajeeth Enjeti, general manager for the Europe food division at Trivium Packaging.
Demand will “remain steady for things like vegetables, soups, things that people always buy,” said Camille Corr Chism, principal and owner of Indigo Packaging and Consulting. “That’s what makes it a very stable packaging format.”
Cans’ long history also comes with some stigma attached. Some consumers recall jagged cans of tuna or mushy vegetables stockpiled in grandma’s pantry. But recent events have changed that.
During the pandemic, consumers saw canned goods as a way to feed their families without frequent trips to the grocery store, said Sherrie Rosenblatt, who recently retired as the lead strategy officer and vice president of marketing and communications at the Can Manufacturers Institute.
Then, as inflation raged, canned goods offered cheaper alternatives to fresh produce or seafood. While multiple groups said they didn’t have data to share about specific market growth, there was an anecdotal sense that cans were doing well in the inflationary environment.
“Canned foods provided them comfort,” Rosenblatt said. “It was an opportunity for the food can industry to continue that momentum.”
Canned goods on sale at a Safeway store on April 11, 2022, in San Anselmo, California, during a period when inflation was weighing on consumers.
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
Companies leaned into the messaging of convenient, safe, affordable food and the fact that cans are recyclable — a big selling point for CPGs and consumers. They made adjustments to make cans more appealing, like adding pull tabs so consumers can open packaging without a can opener, removing BPA from can linings and lightweighting cans.
“Consumers now expect sustainability to be incorporated into the food itself, as well as the packaging,” NSF’s Chop said in an email.
Steel, commonly used in food cans, is infinitely recyclable, Rosenblatt said. According to Bush, the types of steel cans it uses have the highest recycling rate of any food packaging at 58%.
Aluminum, used in some food and beverage packaging, “has a really unique place in the world of material recovery,” said Tony Perrotta, sustainability and regenerative economy expert at PA Consulting. Aluminum has a high recovery rate, and aside from the energy needed to produce and recycle the material, it’s “close to infinitely recyclable and reusable.”
Packaging companies are also focused on balancing virgin aluminum and recycled aluminum in their products. “There is a battle raging for recycled content of all types,” Perrotta said.
Recyclability is what drew HeyDay Canning Company to metal cans. HeyDay manufactures premium ready-to-eat canned beans, with a target market of consumers aged 25 to 45. Today, each 15-ounce can sells for between $4.50 and $5. When HeyDay launched four years ago, Kat Kavner said she and her co-founder debated between using flexible pouches or cans.
“We didn’t spend a ton of time on this decision,” Kavner said, because her research revealed curbside recycling wasn’t widely available for stand-up pouches in HeyDay’s sales regions across the U.S., and cans were the most recycled type of food packaging.
“It was a no-brainer. We had to go with the can,” she said. “There’s just no way to justify launching something in a single-use plastic packaging when there is a much better alternative out there.”
Indeed, recapture and recycling rates for flexible pouches are “extraordinarily low,” according to Perrotta. They’ve also been the target of some backlash by consumers who feel they can’t get out all of the product they’ve purchased.
“Here I am trying to do the toothpaste roll, trying to get every last drop out,” Perrotta said.
Still, many new food brands are gravitating toward flexible pouches as a way to portray a modern identity. The packaging “signals to consumers that this is something that is different and new, and is not the same canned food,” Kavner said.
Being flexible
The process of packaging food into cans or pouches have similarities, such as needing high heat to produce shelf-stable products, which has led can suppliers to “face greater competition from plastics” in certain categories, Trivium’s Enjeti said.
For example, soup is well suited to flexible pouches with plastic screw caps, said Chism of Indigo Packaging. The packaging is resealable and microwavable.
The Flexible Packaging Association says this lightweight packaging can help buyers with source reduction goals. Food manufacturers have also started to consider more sustainable designs in pouches, such as monomaterial laminations, recycled films and compostable films, said Jorge Izquierdo, vice president of market development at PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.
Three years ago, Bush’s acquired the Good Bean Co., which uses flexible pouches to package its beans. Loggins said the packaging does have some advantages. It weighs less, is easy to ship and consumers can elect to put pouched food straight into the microwave.
“That acquisition allows us to dip our toes and learn in real time” about flexible pouches, Loggins said.
But Bush’s has no plans to abandon cans. The CPG considers canning “a core competency” and intends to stick with metal packaging for its namesake product line, Loggins said. “We are working with our partners, Sonoco and Crown, on a frequent basis to ensure that we have the best product in the best containers.”
In recent years, brands, governments, and industry associations across Europe have committed to establishing a more circular economy for food packaging. A goal of the EU Circular Economy Action Plan is that “all packaging on the EU market is reusable or recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030.” Some industry associations have published their latest data on this (FPF reported).
Glass
On June 27, 2024, Close the Glass Loop published the 2022 data on glass collection and recycling in the EU. In 2022, 12.4 million tonnes of glass packaging was collected, an increase of approximately 542,000 tonnes from 2021. On average, 80.2% of glass packaging was collected for recycling. The glass industry says in the press release that they are committed to further increasing these numbers: “To achieve the 90% collection objective by 2030, it is imperative to further promote initiatives in the separate collection of glass packaging from households and the hospitality sector, and support investments that maximize glass recycling outputs towards closed-loop glass packaging. The urgency of these measures cannot be overstated, as they are crucial for ensuring a sustainable and effective glass collection and recycling system across Europe.”
Paper
The Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) published its 2023-2024 Annual Review on June 24, 2024. They report recycling rates for paper and board of about 70% in 2023 in the UK, an increase from 68% in 2022. However, the majority of this is exported and recycled in Asia.
Steel
Industry association Steel for Packaging Europepublished their “independently verified figures” on the 2022 recycling rates of steel packaging in Europe, as reported by Packaging Europe on June 28, 2024. With an average recycling rate of 80.5% (an increase of 2% compared to 2021), steel recycling has reached a new record. According to the association, this already meets the EU recycling rate target for 2025.
Plastics
According to the most recent data from Eurostat on plastic recycling in Europe, 16.13 million tonnes of plastic waste was generated in 2021 with 6.56 million tonnes being recycled. This recycling rate of 40% for plastics in the EU is much lower compared to other materials. As part of the EU Green Deal, plastic recycling rates should reach 55% by 2030.
European Union
Many of these recycling rates when averaged across the continent are promising, however, a 2023 report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) found that many EU member states are at risk of missing certain packaging waste targets for 2025 (FPF reported). With the adoption of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) this year, there may still be considerable changes made to the waste management system in Europe (FPF reported).
The FDA and CDC, in collaboration with state and local partners, are investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Africana and Salmonella Braenderup infections with 449 illnesses in 31 states and the District of Columbia. While originally reported as two separate outbreaks, CDC and FDA combined these two outbreak investigations as they shared several similarities, including when and where illnesses occurred, the demographics of ill people and the foods they reported eating before they became sick. Laboratory, epidemiological and traceback data have determined that cucumbers from Bedner Growers, Inc., of Boynton Beach, Fla., and Thomas Produce Company, of Boca Raton, Fla., are likely sources of illnesses in this outbreak; however, these growers do not account for all the illnesses in this outbreak.
Based on traceback information collected, Thomas Produce Company supplied cucumbers to multiple points of service where ill people reported eating cucumbers. As part of the investigation, FDA conducted an onsite inspection at Thomas Produce Company and collected samples. Salmonella Braenderup was detected in samples of canal water used by Thomas Produce Company. Whole Genome Sequencing analysis determined that the water used by Thomas Produce Company contained the salmonella that is a match to a strain of Salmonella Braenderup that is causing some of the illnesses in this outbreak.
Additional types of salmonella were detected in both soil and water samples collected at both Bedner Growers, Inc. and Thomas Produce Company. Multiple other strains of salmonella,unrelated to this outbreak investigation, found at Bedner Growers, Inc. matched clinical isolates from illnesses in the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s (NCBI) database that occurred in previous years. CDC and FDA are working to determine whether other positive samples from Thomas Produce Company match historical clinical isolates.
Bedner Growers, Inc.’s and Thomas Produce Company’s cucumber growing and harvesting season is over. There is no product from these farms on the market and likely no ongoing risk to the public.
Mars, Incorporated is set to expand its snacking portfolio by acquiring Kellanova for $35.9 billion.
Kellanova, which was formed last year after Kellogg’s spun off its global snacking and plant-based food business, offers brands including Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats, NutriGrain and RXBAR, as well as including Kellogg’s (international), Eggo and MorningStar Farms. In 2023, Kellanova logged net sales of more than $13 billion, with a presence in 180 markets and approximately 23,000 employees.
Kellanova’s portfolio complements the existing Mars portfolio, which includes billion-dollar snacking and confectionery brands such as Snickers, M&M’S, Twix, Dove and Extra, as well as KIND and Nature’s Bakery. Mars also has 10 pet care brands with over $1 billion in sales. With more than 150,000 associates across its petcare, snacking and food businesses, Mars had 2023 net sales of more than $50 billion.
“In welcoming Kellanova’s portfolio of growing global brands, we have a substantial opportunity for Mars to further develop a sustainable snacking business that is fit for the future,” says Poul Weihrauch, CEO and office of the president, Mars, Incorporated. “We will honor the heritage and innovation behind Kellanova’s incredible snacking and food brands while combining our respective strengths to deliver more choice and innovation to consumers and customers. We have tremendous respect for the storied legacy that Kellanova has built and look forward to welcoming the Kellanova team.”
Upon completion of the transaction, Kellanova will become part of Mars Snacking, led by Global President Andrew Clarke and headquartered in Chicago. Mars intends to apply its brand-building approach to further nurture and grow Kellanova’s brands, including accelerating innovation to meet evolving consumer tastes and preferences, investing locally to expand reach and introducing more better-for-you nutrition options to meet evolving consumer needs.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mars will acquire all outstanding equity of Kellanova for $83.50 per share in cash. All of Kellanova’s brands, assets and operations, including its snacking brands, portfolio of international cereal and noodles, North American plant-based foods and frozen breakfast are included in the transaction.
Mars intends to fully finance the acquisition through a combination of cash-on-hand and new debt, for which commitments have been secured.
The agreement has been unanimously approved by Kellanova’s Board of Directors. The transaction is subject to Kellanova shareholder approval and other customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close within the first half of 2025. The transaction agreement permits Kellanova to declare and pay quarterly dividends consistent with historical practice prior to the closing of the transaction.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation Trust and the Gund Family have entered into agreements in which they have committed to vote shares representing 20.7% of Kellanova’s common stock, as of Aug. 9, in favor of the transaction.
After closing, Battle Creek, Mich. will remain a core location for the combined organization.
“This is a truly historic combination with a compelling cultural and strategic fit,” says Kellanova CEO Steve Cahillane. “Kellanova has been on a transformation journey to become the world’s best snacking company, and this opportunity to join Mars enables us to accelerate the realization of our full potential and our vision. The transaction maximizes shareholder value through an all-cash transaction at an attractive purchase price and creates new and exciting opportunities for our employees, customers and suppliers. We are excited for Kellanova’s next chapter as part of Mars, which will bring together both companies’ world-class talent and capabilities and our shared commitment to helping our communities thrive. With a proven track record of successfully and sustainably nurturing and growing acquired businesses, we are confident Mars is a natural home for the Kellanova brands and employees.”
