November/December 2021 - 24

PMMI THE ASSOCIATION FOR PACKAGING AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES
Packaging for RTE plant-based meals
Convenience, or ready meals,
exploded in consumption since the
beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as
restaurants shuttered and more people
ate at home. These prepared meals
are often perceived as less healthy
because consumers frequently equate
food made and packaged ahead of time
with preservatives.
With consumers seeking out
alternatives following rising health
awareness, producers of plant-based
meat products - now widely available
at grocery stores and restaurants -
consider ready meals as the next
important step for the food group to
continue its rise in acceptance. This
conclusion comes from market research
firm Packaged Facts, which indicates
that marketers of plant-based meat
products should focus on convenience
when marketing to consumers. Regular
consumers of plant-based meat as well as
those who have not eaten these products
are more likely to look for prepared
meal options when strapped for time.
As ready meals continue to grow in
popularity, almost a quarter of ready
meals are suitable for vegetarians. The
number of plant-based ready meals
available in supermarkets has grown
from 3% to 16% in the past two years,
according to a 2020 report by the Eating
CPS, continued from page 23
These are just a few of the listeria
learnings from CPS's research reservoir.
We also know that aggressive cleaning
and sanitation programs, combined
with environmental monitoring for the
pathogen, can help control listeria risks.
We know we should design equipment
and facilities for easy cleaning and
sanitation. We know that computer
models can help predict Lm persistence
and growth across our distribution chain.
Food safety should be non-negotiable to
a company's values, culture and success.
We can never be done learning - and
24 NOVEMBER /DECEMBER 2 0 21
Better Alliance. The same report also
indicates that while plant-based meat
products are usually more expensive
than animal proteins, plant-based ready
meals are actually cheaper per portion
than meat meals at most supermarkets.
Another growing reason millennials
and younger consumers are turning
to plant-based products leads back
to its sustainability for the planet.
Transitioning to plant-based meat and
dairy has environmental benefits like
reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
freeing up land to support biodiversity
and carbon sequestration and reducing
antibiotic use.
The natural next step is to include
packaging that also reduces the carbon
footprint, with many plant-based
ready meals packaged in sustainable
materials containing polylactic acid.
The compostable and recyclable
material is growing in use as an
environmentally friendly alternative
to fossil fuel plastics like polyethylene,
polystyrene and polypropylene. Derived
from several different renewable plantbased
materials like sugarcane or corn
starch and with characteristics like
petrochemical-derived plastics, PLA is
resilient, rigid and UV-light resistant.
While the expanding market for
plant-based meals, packaged foods and
that's where Center for Produce Safety
comes in. Center for Produce Safety is the
fresh produce industry's center pivot on
fresh produce food safety. My company
tries to glean as much information as
possible from CPS. And we push CPS to
help us learn how to apply their learnings
to protect our business. I deeply respect
the talent that CPS has assembled, and
the passion that people within our
industry put into CPS's produce-centric
food safety research mission.
If you aren't already tapping into
CPS's research resources, start today.
And if you aren't already financially
supporting CPS's work, contribute
snacks is nudging the food industry
to use more biodegradable materials
such as PLA, the more significant shift
towards the material lies in its lesser
carbon footprint. The demand for PLA
is projected to reach $1.7 billion by
2026, with developments underway
for large-scale application in rigid
containers for yogurt, juice, water and
many other food products in the future.
Further, with demand increasing from
the flexible packaging sector, original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of
packaging machinery are incorporating
the films into new machines and
developing retrofits for machinery
already in place.
No other event on the east coast will
offer such a wide range of state-of-theart
packaging and processing solutions
as PACK EXPO East (March 21-23, 2022
at the Pennsylvania Convention Center).
With 400 exhibitors concentrated in one
location just a drive or train-trip away
for most of the East Coast, PACK EXPO
East is a convenient opportunity to see
machinery in action, in person, and
find solutions to adapt in a changing
marketplace.
For more information and to register,
visit packexpoeast.com. To learn about
the PACK Ready Health and Safety plan,
visit packexpoeast.com/packready.
to the research capital campaign
underway now. You can do both at
centerforproducesafety.org.
- Steve Kenfield has led the valueadded
ready-to-eat grape business for
HMC Farms, a vertically-integrated
company headquartered in California
with operations on both hemispheres,
and a reputation for innovation and
execution. He is a longtime member of
Center for Produce Safety's volunteer
Board of Directors, which keeps CPS
focused on its mission: to fund the science
needed to find solutions and fuel change
in fresh produce food safety.
http://www.packexpoeast.com http://www.packexpoeast.com/packready http://www.centerforproducesafety.org
November/December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November/December 2021
