CRYOVAC brand grows e-commerce presence for smaller manufacturers

Photo courtesy of SEE

SUPERIOR SHRINK BAGS — CRYOVAC’s barrier shrink bags protect cheese from oxygen, moisture and environmental elements to maintain food quality and safety across the supply chain. Engineered to protect against physical, chemical or microbiological spoilage, these high-performance bags set the industry standard for cheese packaging.

Photo courtesy of SEE

FLEXIBLE PROTECTION — CRYOVAC’s T-series flexible rollstock helps maintain taste, moisture, freshness and texture in cheese to ensure consumers have a consistent eating experience.

By Alyssa Mitchell

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As cheese companies of all sizes seek out new packaging technologies, CRYOVAC Brand Food Packaging, a division of SEE, is growing its e-commerce presence to offer small and mid-size manufacturers increased access to sustainable packaging solutions.

The company formerly known as Sealed Air announced its new “SEE” corporate brand and logo last month. The rebrand seeks to showcase a market-driven, customer-first solutions company. SEE partners with customers to deliver packaging solutions integrating automation, digital and sustainability, creating significant value for their businesses.

SEE is in the business to protect, to solve critical packaging challenges and to make the world better than we find it, company officials say. SEE is a provider of automated packaging solutions that promote a safer, more resilient and less wasteful global food chain supply and enhance commerce through fulfillment and packaging solutions to protect the worldwide movement of goods and create digital connectivity. Its portfolio of packaging solutions integrates sustainable, high-performance material, automaton and digital technologies.

CRYOVAC brand food packaging solutions help processors, brand owners and retailers increase operational efficiency by extending product shelf life and food safety throughout the global supply chain. As an industry leader for more than 75 years, CRYOVAC offers automation, sustainability, digital packaging and the SEE Smart Services platform of innovative support tools that help address an expanding range of operational needs. CRYOVAC products first were introduced as a vacuum packaging solution for meat products. Since then, the brand has expanded to offer a wide range of packaging solutions for cheese and dairy foods, as well as other food categories. CRYOVAC remains a trusted partner of food processors worldwide. The CRYOVAC brand recently launched a new e-commerce website at https://small business.sealedair.com/collections/
food-protection that sells barrier shrink bags and rollstock directly to customers, focusing specifically on solutions for small business cheese packagers and processors.

“Historically, smaller processors have had to struggle with ill-fitting packaging for some of their more niche products,” says Holly Thomas, marketing director, dairy, for SEE. “We previously were not able to help smaller cheese processors due to minimum order requirements that prevented them from accessing our materials.

However, with the recent introduction of our new small business e-commerce platform with lower minimum quantities, we can now offer our CRYOVAC brand packaging solutions to a whole new customer base, ensuring that customers of all sizes have access to quality packaging that can help them grow their business.

Our new small business platform allows customers to purchase and track orders. We’re excited for this opportunity to introduce the CRYOVAC brand to these new customers.”

Some of CRYOVAC’s most in-demand products — and those initially featured on the new small business e-commerce site — include T-series flexible rollstock for cheese and barrier shrink bags. Rollstock is a versatile film that can be used as a top or bottom web, and is designed to be used in modified atmosphere (MAP) and vacuum applications. The CRYOVAC brand’s T-series rollstock helps maintain taste, moisture, freshness and texture in cheese to ensure consumers have a consistent eating experience. Its oxygen protection is engineered to extend shelf life as well as maximize flavor and product appearance. It is ideal for hard, semi-hard and non-gassing cheeses and is compatible with modified atmosphere and standard vacuum packaging equipment.

Thomas notes that rollstock also delivers consistent performance and package presentation to drive brand loyalty and is robust to an array of product temperature conditions.

“We’re seeing increasing demand for environmentally friendly solutions that do not compromise product safety,” she says. “We’re also seeing consumer demand for convenience and sustainability when it comes to cheese packaging — particularly reseal and easy-open. Our retail and foodservice customers want case-ready cheese.”

CRYOVAC brand’s barrier shrink bags protect cheese from oxygen, moisture and environmental elements to maintain food quality and safety across the supply chain. Engineered to protect against physical, chemical or microbiological spoilage, these high-performance bags set the industry standard for cheese packaging, Thomas says.

The shrink bags are available in an assortment of sizes and improve product performance throughout distribution due to high abuse-resistance properties. The bags also increase visual appeal with excellent shrink properties and superior optics for enhanced gloss, sheen and clarity that can highlight the natural color and texture of the product. The bags are optimal for hard, semi-hard or non-gassing cheeses and are compatible with a wide variety of heat-sealing vacuum packaging systems.

CRYOVAC’s new small business e-commerce site is focusing primarily on its rollstock and barrier shrink bag offerings that are commonly used for artisanal cheese producers, and plans to expand customer offerings for additional dairy and non-dairy products on the site in the future.

The small business e-commerce site also addresses the unique challenges that small and medium-sized cheese processors face by offering compact and affordable solutions that can fit into small spaces and deliver high performance and quality.

In addition to its material solutions, CRYOVAC also has a dedicated sales team with broad dairy industry experience serving its customers to help them determine their optimal equipment needs and materials.
“All of our customers have our continued service support as their needs grow and evolve over time,” Thomas says.

“Our offerings allow the product to stand out on shelf,” she adds. “CRYOVAC brand customers also have access to our full in-house graphics department, so we can help with any labeling and regulatory compliance needs as well.”

Thomas notes the CRYOVAC brand offers a new plant-based rollstock that features a renewable forming web and replaces traditional oil-based plastics. The brand is incorporating post-consumer-based resin into select packages and introducing it into some of its flexible materials as well.

“SEE strives to reduce our environmental impact by using renewable or recycled materials, minimizing material usage, optimizing transportation efficiency, supporting circular economy initiatives and reducing food waste,” says adds.

SEE is making a commitment to sustainability through demonstrating operational excellence, solving customers’ most critical challenges and creating shared value through key partnerships.

“As a global company, we believe there is an important role to play in addressing societal needs where we operate in helping people around the world to live better lives,” Thomas says.

To that end, the company recently became the first in the United States to successfully launch a circular food packaging proof of concept leveraging advanced recycling. Alongside other industry leaders including
ExxonMobil, Cyclyx International and Ahold Delhaize USA, SEE was part of a successful demo in which plastic waste was collected from grocery stores and diverted from landfills using ExxonMobil’s Exxtend technology for advanced recycling, which breaks plastic waste into its molecular building blocks and attributes the certified-circular share via mass balance accounting. The plastic waste was converted to new food-grade packaging.

SEE converted certified-circular performance polyethylene resins into food-grade flexible film that was used to package select Nature’s Promise fresh poultry.

Following these viability tests, the process now is being evaluated for scale.

“We are relentlessly reinventing SEE from product-driven to a world-class, market-led company powered by automation, digital and sustainable packaging solutions,” says Ted Doheny, president and CEO, SEE. “We are solving our customers’ critical packaging challenges to make our world better than we find it.”

CMN

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