The importance of proper wrapping choice is explained by its ability to manage customer behavior and directly influence business success. Packages act like good or poor business assistants on the market, either highlighting businesses’ strong sides or, vice versa, leading to deficient sales of food.
A proper developed packaging attracts consumers’ attention, while poor-designed covers result in weak sales indicators. What is more, product freshness is a vital issue for choosing covers. Different types of meat packaging must preserve food freshness throughout its storage period. This rule is applicable to all classes of food and its wrappers.
Peculiarities of Meat Packages
Fresh meat, frozen, or semi-finished products require particular conditions for packing and storing since this food is exposed to quick spoilage or micro-organism growth in the case of thermal conditions violation.
Judging by the type of flesh, different wrapping and storing techniques are applied. Let’s consider the most common ones:
- Poultry
This perishable product can serves as a favorable atmosphere for bacterium growth. Manufacturers use carbon dioxide to reduce the aging pace and prevent meat spoilage on store shelves.
End-users can find whole chickens or their parts on store shelves. Manufacturers offer different poultry packaging solutions. If we talk about whole chickens, processors tend to use vacuum wrappers or shrink covers to pack fresh fowls. Parts of them (legs, necks, thighs, semi-carcasses) are sold in foam trays wrapped with transparent films.
- Beef & Pork
Modern processors tend to use MA (modifications of an inner atmosphere) solutions to pack pork and beef. According to this technology, meat is placed in vacuum packages, then the amount of oxygen is reduced due to the use of inert gases. The application of this technique allows companies to keep meat fresh, eliminate the growth of bacteria and micro-organisms, and preserve color.
Note that preferable types of meat packaging materials vary, considering the kind of cooperation on the market. Products are packed differently if they are delivered directly to consumers or grocery stores.
Butchers tend to use vacuum atmospheres to pack large cuts in flexible wrappers for further transportation to grocery stores. If butchers sell meat cuts directly to end-users in small shops, stretchable films or paper bags with labels are usually used. Butcher papers are applicable for short-term storage only. Grocery stores prefer to use foam trays covered with plastic films to pack meat.
Uniflex produces various types of reliable and durable packaging for meat and poultry.
Flesh Wrappers Supplies
When selecting supplies for covers, materials must meet certain requirements, including hygiene, mechanical strength, odourlessness, flexibility, and resistance to temperature extremes and punctures. Based on these factors, the following meat packaging supplies are used as components for the production of wrappers for fresh cuts and semi-finished products:
- Synthetic plastics
These covers are manufactured from different types of synthetic chains. As a result, manufacturers achieve high barrier properties and serviceability. The next chemical compounds are used:
- PP (polypropylene);
- PET (polyester);
- PA (polyamide);
- PE (polyethylene);
- PVC (polyvinylchloride).
These plastic components are combined or used separately to wrap meat and guarantee fresh-tasting products with odor preservation.
- Edible and bio-based materials
Some semi-finished products, like sausages, are wrapped in edible covers. Biopolymers and organic materials allow for achieving sustainability and make the cover eco-friendly. Here, cellulose, pectines, starch, and nanoclays are distinguished.
Ways to Pack Flesh and Semi-finished Food
Although plastic containers and films are the most popular packaging options, wrapping solutions differ, depending on the type of stored products. Each category has its specifics and requires particular storage conditions.
1. Raw carcasses and parts
Fresh products are prone to oxygen influence and are characterized by short shelf life. Thus, an elastic film comes as the top fresh meat packaging material. Such films must have a high oxygen barrier. PP and PET trays are used for vacuum packing in semi-rigid containers.
2. Cured food
This class of edible products features a longer shelf life. Sausages and other products are usually packed in pouches, flexible perforated bags, or thermo-sealed trays covered with films.
3. Cold cuts
This category of products deteriorates quickly if food is exposed to contact with oxygen. Thus, the main task here is to provide a high oxygen barrier. Processors prefer to use modified atmosphere or vacuum wrappers as a common beef or chicken packaging material.
4. Prepared food
These are ready-to-eat packages for grabbing a bite on the go. Here, containers must be resistant to high temperatures to allow consumers to heat dishes in a microwave. The most popular solutions include:
- doypacks;
- vacuum-packed pouches;
- thermo-sealed trays.
Convenience is the key criterion for such packages since they are aimed at having a snack on the run.
5.Frozen
When it comes to wrapping for frozen meat, the ability to resist to extremely low temperatures, tearing, and punctures should be taken into account. Keeping in mind these properties, polyamide and polyethylene stand as the most appropriate solutions.
A bunch of options for the wrapping and storage of flesh and semi-finished products is designed in the industry. Meat and poultry packaging materials vary according to barrier qualities, which allows for choosing appropriate options for each category of product.