CULINOLOGY
off the shelf
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By James Scarpa
S
Sooner or later in a new-product effort, packaging
decisions must arise. Hopefully sooner, because the
packaging of a product affects every aspect of its design
and performance, from flavor and integrity to shelf life,
safety, cost and brand image.
Culinologists® with a grasp of this complex, rapidly
changing subject find optimal packaging solutions with
less trial and error. They see their bright ideas go to
market or on the menu faster and produce revenue sooner. Wisely chosen packaging options, made early in the
design process, can increase a product’s odds of success.
TIMELY CONSIDERATIONS
Today’s new value-added packaging is revolutionizing the way products are created and marketed. Flexible
pouches of soups, sauces and other prepared foods can
be quickly processed and frozen or refrigerated for
improved flavor and cost-efficiency in restaurant operations. Stand-up pouches with bold graphics attract consumers to the grocer’s case and can give them an edge
over the competition. Easy-open, easy-pour aseptic cartons of chili and other ready-to-heat meals are compact,
stackable and shelf-stable for over a year, thereby offering storage efficiencies, improved product safety and
extended product life. Barrier-film pouches flushed with
mixed gases extend the shelf life and preserve the color
of red meats, improving consumer appeal.
Despite this, more culinary and formulation matters
seem to still preoccupy Culinologists early in the productdevelopment game. “In R&D, it’s about getting flavor
and texture where they should be,” says Stephen Kalil,
C.E.C., C.R.C., senior manager, culinary innovation,
Brinker International, Dallas. However, packaging and
processing issues shouldn’t loom far behind. “In actual
prototype development, I’ll think, ‘this will be pouchpacked or tray-packed,’ but my first concerns are flavor and meeting customer expectations.”
Before a packaging conception is sketched out, the
Culinologist needs to consider a number of parameters.
Is the product intended for foodservice, the retail market, or both? How long a shelf life does it need? Does
it have to resemble a scratch-made product? Will it be
distributed and stored refrigerated, frozen or at ambient temperature? Will it be complete in the package, or
designed to have some ingredients added by the end
user? Will it be packaged ready-to-serve or in concentrated form? Does it need a special attribute, such as
resealability or pourability? The more technical issues,
such as size of particulates, viscosity and pH may involve
consultation with packaging experts.
CULINOLOGY
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FORM DICTATES FUNCTION
The astute Culinologist needs to keep in mind that
even seemingly simple package-size changes are more
challenging than they might seem on the surface. Consider
a chunky beef stew recently created with the intention
that it would originally sell in foodservice and then segue
into retail. For the initial foodservice release, the stew
was formulated in 5-lb. pouches. Simply switching to a
10-oz. package for the retail market would have wreaked
havoc on the product, because the narrower filling tube
used for the smaller package would have damaged the
particulates. The particulate size, viscosity and even flavor profiles needed tinkering to work in the smaller format. Essentially, the stew required reformulation.
Similarly, a product formulated for the frozen-food
aisle cannot be converted into a shelf-stable or refrigerated form without reworking. “We might have a customer
who wants to put their frozen product in a glass jar and
co-brand it in Whole Foods,” says Gaston. “But the
Culinologist says no — it will be two different products.”
The same goes for switching a product — chili, for
instance — from a #10 can to a flexible retort pouch.
Because the latter is processed with much less heat, “it’s
vastly different in flavor and texture,” Gaston says.
“For a standard soup or
sauce, packaging isn’t so far
down the list that it’s an
afterthought, but it’s not a
level-one concern,” says
John Gaston, national marketing manager, Cryovac
Food Packaging, Duncan,
SC, a division of Sealed Air
Corporation. “It’s probably level-two.”
Unfortunately, the Culinologist isn’t always involved
in this decision. “It may be handled by people in operations or sourcing,” says Gaston. Sometimes, the prevailing modus operandi is: “Whatever the people in the
supply chain decide will be all right.”
However, more and more companies and their product developers are finding that an early and informed
eye to packaging can be crucial to product success. To
defer decisions is to risk unforeseen problems and delay.
“You need to know what you’re going to do with the
product in advance,” says Gaston. “Your time from
development to plate will be a lot quicker.”
Photo: Cryovac
Hot-fill flexible packaging,
which uses lower temperatures than retorting, can help
preserve a product’s culinary
integrity. Thin, relatively flat
pouches lend themselves to
efficient heating and cooling.
ADDING UNDENIABLE VALUE
Packaging might even prove a life-or-death issue.
Take vacuum-packed, fresh-fish products. FDA regulations dictate packaging in a pouch labeled for a very
specific oxygen-transmission rate. Putting such a product in an unsuitable film with a lower-than-specified
oxygen-transmission rate, such as those used for beef
and pork, could foster toxic microbial growth.
In some cases, the packaging helps a product fit into a
specific client’s needs. For example, an upscale steakhouse
buys cleaned, ready-to-cook, vacuum-packed fresh salmon
fillets or tuna steaks for special menu items. The facility
would not devote labor to scaling and cleaning fish in the
kitchen, nor would its customers look kindly on frozen fish.
In another example, the kitchens of the Dallas-based
T.G.I. Friday’s casual restaurant chain use certain sauces in
small pouches, each holding enough to sauce a plate. There
are several flavors. “That allows them to offer a choice of
sauces with entrées,” says Gaston. “They don’t have to
bring in 5-lb. packages of sauce. Sauces are expensive,
and it’s costly to throw them away.”
CULINOLOGY
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FLEXIBLE OPTIONS
Regardless of the packaging decision, the selection
will be judged on performance. For example, consider
the development of a prospective menu item like shrimp
Creole for a restaurant chain. “A Culinologist wants to
be sure that the packaging method will be able to deliver the flavor to the plate,” says Gaston. “Are the shrimp
intact when they reach the plate? Are the pieces of tomatoes and peppers the proper size and consistency?”
Shrimp Creole, with its roux-thickened base, shrimp,
green peppers and tomatoes, is the sort of product that
packaging innovation makes feasible for national chain
distribution. Until recently, it was primarily made from
scratch in a restaurant kitchen. It was daunting for processors to preserve the integrity of the shrimp and vegetables and the proper texture of the roux.
If packaged, notes Gaston, such an item could have
previously only come in a #10 can. In basic retorting,
canned foods are heated to destroy spoilage microbes as
well as Clostridium botulinum. However, heating a #10
can weighing over 6 lbs. to 250˚F can adversely affect the
flavor, texture and nutritional content of the food. The
principal aim of retorting is food safety, not culinary quality. Today, alternatives can help a Culinologist deliver a
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CULINOLOGY September 2005
product that more closely resembles a freshly made restaurant dish and still maintain high food-safety standards.
One solution is the hot-fill process, which utilizes vertical form-fill-seal equipment and flexible pouches. Hotfill uses temperatures akin to those of cooking, sufficient to
kill spoilage organisms while retaining better flavor,
aroma and texture than in retorted, canned products
due to the lower temperatures typically used in hot fill.
For example, a marinara sauce is typically hot-filled in
a pouch at 195˚F to 200˚F and held for two minutes to
kill yeasts and molds before cooling. Retort canning can
involve cooking the product, dispensing it into the cans
and then heating again to the desired temperature to
kill any residual bacteria in the product or cans.
But the hot-fill process alone does not necessarily make
for a shelf-stable product. If it is a low-acid, high-wateractivity product, it needs freezing or refrigeration. However,
a way to combine the benefits of flexible packaging and
shelf stability exists. A thin, flat, retortable pouch made of
heat-resistant materials has a large surface area and lends
itself to efficient heat exchange, thus minimizing the impact
on food quality, partially due to the ability to quickly heat
and then cool the product, which can improve quality.
“Flexible packaging lets you get to temperature more
quickly,” says Daniel McKamy, section leader, applications
development and support, Cryovac.
Packaging manufacturers can tailor the size of a pouch
to the product’s usage, resulting in reduced waste and
better safety. “Say it’s a hot-hold soup or sauce, and the
line holds a sixth pan at a time,” says Kalil. “You want
a pouch that fills a sixth pan, not larger, because once
you break open that pouch, the potential exists for deterioration and contamination.”
Packaging choices can also offer unexpected, valueadded benefits after scratching the surface of basic product
considerations early in the formulation process. For example, consider the concept of
pouches as backups in a foodservice kitchen. A pouch of
soup can sit unopened in a
The packaging chosen
165˚F water bath during servfor soups, sauces and
stocks can streamline
ice. If needed, kitchen staff can
distribution and storage.
quickly open the pouch and
Packaging can also
facilitate easy handling
put it on the line. If unopened
once the product reaches
at the end of the shift, just chill
its destination, such as a
foodservice kitchen.
and refrigerate for future use.
Kalil also sees a role for a mini-pouch, similar to an
oversized ketchup packet, to hold 1 or 2 oz. of a relatively expensive sauce, say a Port sauce. “If you have a
restaurant that only sells a handful of steaks a night,
you could keep a few pouches warmed in a pan of water
instead of opening a large pouch and removing only a
cup of sauce,” he says.
The choice of packaging can also dictate some ingredient issues. In some instances, a Culinologist might
omit necessary ingredients from a packaged product to,
for instance, prevent fresh herbs from browning or fresh
fruit from softening in an acidic salsa or dressing. The
solution is to have the end user add those fresh ingredients to a packaged base. Kalil calls the practice “adding
freshness cues.” The labor savings are still considerable,
even with a little extra dicing and mixing in the kitchen,
Advances in packaging
technology now permit
effective distribution of
potentially sensitive
products that operators
formerly could only create
on site. This opens up
new potential in retail
markets, as well.
and the product seems more
like scratch-made, boosting
appearance, flavor and overall consumer appeal.
The economics of packaging choice in processing plants
is bringing down costs. “Putting food in flexible packaging
can be half the cost of putting
it in a rigid container,” says
Gaston. Rarely does a Culinologist consider how to
reduce shipping costs by opting for lighter packaging
options.
KITH AND KIN
Aseptic packaging has similarities to pouch options.
The juice box is the most-familiar aseptic example, but
the multi-ply package is also finding use with dairy products, soups, sauces and other prepared foods. Multiple
layers of paper, plastic and aluminum block light and
air and hold in nutrients. The box and the food contents
are heat-processed separately to destroy microorganisms and spores and create a shelf life of as long as a
year in ambient temperatures.
However, longer shelf life doesn’t mean that products remain unchanged. In the case of aseptic dressings,
for instance, “flavor attributes may change as the product ages,” Kalil notes.
Proponents of flexible packaging cite convenience,
safety and space efficiency as advantages to the technology. Demand for pouches is expected to increase 7%
per year through 2008 to $5.2 billion, according to a
study by the Freedonia Group, Cleveland. Stand-up
pouches have a projected annual growth rate of 15%.
Flat pouches should rise at a 5% rate. According to the
business research firm, the technology’s value-added
features, such as resealability, spouts, and retort or aseptic properties are spurring demand.
IMPROVING THE ATMOSPHERE
Two exciting areas, modified-atmosphere packaging
and vacuum packaging, are also on the rise. They have
a projected average annual growth rate of 13.6% and
should have a projected value of nearly $11 billion in
sales by 2008, according to a study by Business Communications Company, Inc., Norwalk, CT.
In both modified-atmosphere and vacuum packaging, food is packaged in a pouch made of barrier film. In
modified-atmosphere packaging, the headspace (vacant
area) of the pouch is flushed with gases that prolong
the shelf life of the item. In vacuum packaging, air in
the headspace is vacuumed out, extending shelf life by
preventing oxidation and inhibiting microbial growth.
High-barrier films restrict the passage of gases.
Films have various degrees of barrier capability for
different food applications. “Very oxygen-sensitive foods
CULINOLOGY
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Photo: Croyovac
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need high-barrier films,” says Scott Harris, senior packaging applications, Cryovac. Low-barrier films help
some products stay fresh longer by allowing gas transmission.
Modified-atmosphere packaging is useful for preserving a product with a cellular structure that would
deteriorate if frozen, according to Kalil. For instance, he
has sampled fully cooked baked potatoes in nitrogenflushed packaging. “If you just baked potatoes and sent
them through ordinary distribution channels, they would
be expired by the time they reached the restaurant,” he
says. “But in a nitrogen-flushed pouch, the potato stays
fresher longer. You open the pouch as needed, and you
can serve a baked potato in three minutes.”
A STABLE FUTURE
Shelf-stable flexible packaging has substantial growth
promise. So far, a main example is hot-fill flexible pouches of low-pH foods with inherent antimicrobial properties. “There are tomato-based products used every day,”
says Gaston. “Because of their pH, they don’t need a
post-packaging retort process. They use high-barrier
packaging and have zero headspace.”
Once consumers and foodservice operators see the
benefits of flexible-packaged items, they look for it elsewhere. “A customer who uses shelf-stable marinara
sauce will occasionally ask for Alfredo sauce packaged
the same way,” says Gaston. Perfecting shelf-stable versions of such lower-acid products is a considerable
opportunity.
The shrimp Creole mentioned earlier would theoretically last 12 to 18 months as a shelf-stable product.
It’s not yet a reality in foodservice, but it might happen
soon. Look at the growing consumer acceptance of shelf-staRestaurant and other
ble pouches of tuna and chunfoodservice kitchens can
typically gauge daily usage ked chicken. “Sometimes,
levels of given ingredients
retail follows foodservice,”
and menu components.
Therefore, customized
says Gaston, “sometimes
packaging sizes can minivice-versa.”
mize waste and save
money.
Shelf stability also has the
potential to dramatically
change distribution. “You wouldn’t need to schedule
reefer trucks,” says Gaston. “You could ship to places that
don’t have a cold chain, like Latin America.”
Shelf-stable prepared products increasingly play a significant a role in every aspect of the food industry. Product
developers needn’t compromise practiced culinary creativity and appearance when adding safety, cost-effectiveness and shelf-stability to the mix. It might just be a matter
of evaluating every variable — such as potentially sensitive issues related to packaging and product placement —
as early as possible in the development process. ●
James Scarpa is a Chicago-based writer who specializes in
food, beverages and the business of restaurants. He is a
graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a veteran
of the foodservice industry trade press.
Reprinted from the September 2005 issue of CULINOLOGY