On Wednesday our Managing Director, brand and packaging design expert, Hetal Pandit featured on Channel 4’s Supershoppers.

The Supershoppers episode was a Money Saving Special and Hetal was there to clear up consumers’ questions on food retail packaging.

You can catch the episode here.

Why use packaging in the first place?

Packaging gets a bad wrap ? but here are a few reasons why the food industry needs packaging:

• It protects the product during transportation and on the shelf
• It gives the product a longer shelf life and reduces food waste – did you know that the plastic wrap on a cucumber extends its shelf life by 14 days? Cucumbers are 96% water so by the time they got to the supermarket they likely would be so shrivelled we wouldn’t want to buy it!
• Gives an opportunity to display ingredients, allergens
• Builds brand trust by clearly displaying brand elements like logos, images and fonts

Why is there so much space in food packaging?

The packaging part of the Supershoppers episode started with a consumer asking why there was so much space in packaging.

We’ve all been there; we open a bag of crisps or a box of cereal and wonder why it’s half empty. A lot of the time there are technical reasons why packaging is double the size of the product inside.

The main reasons being:

• Some of the factories need larger bags so the filling machines can hold onto the bags to fill the product. New technology and filling machines would be needed to cater for a smaller packaging size.
• In the case of crisps, the “emptiness” is actually air in the pack which serves to keep the nation’s favourite snack from being crushed and acts to protect them. We wouldn’t fancy opening a bag of broken crisps!

We totally understand some consumers might feel misled when purchasing a product to find there is a little less than they expected. The packing industry is constantly innovating and working on more efficient options.

During the Supershoppers episode Sabina Grant interviews the people of Manchester for their views on having more packaging, and the air in food packs. Consumers weren’t happy about the excess packaging and plastics used.

What are brands doing about it?

Hetal spoke on Supershoppers about packaging from a brand’s perspective and how brands are working to reduce plastics used in their packaging and look to more sustainable options.

“Brands are aware of the need to reduce plastics in packaging and are always looking for sustainable options. Literally every brand we speak with wants to be and is working towards being more sustainable. There is great demand from consumers and it’s good to know the packaging industry is innovating to provide these options.” Says Hetal Pandit, DCP.

 

If you’d like to chat to our team about anything brand or packaging related, get in touch

Contact Form   |  info@wearedcp.com   |  01625 460 280

 

All photos credited to Channel 4