Launched this week at Pack Expo, 2009 in Las Vegas, the FlexiBowl pouch is designed for foods that can be heated in and eaten from the package plus dry and wet foods such as cereals, yogurt and snacks. Special cool grips are incorporated to ease the handling of hot food-ready-to-eat food.
Featuring Linear Tear film technology, the tear area of the pouch is placed lower on the package than with most food pouches to ensure a clean, even tear across the pouch with no risk of a ragged or uneven tear into the package, said the company. Once opened, the consumer can eat directly from the pouch without the need for another bowl or plate.
Ready-to-eat
Designed for brand owners in the retort, quick meals and ready-to-eat food categories, the flexible package format is particularly suited to rice dishes, soups, stews, cereals and snack foods, claimed the company.
It is also more sustainable than cans, boxes or plastic bowls, it added. “Depending upon the application, flexible packaging can weigh up to 95% less than rigid containers and take up less than 10% of the space typically used by rigid containers.”
The pouch is available in a wide range of custom materials, shapes and sizes. Those include: Clear, foil or opaque structures for retort, microwave, boil, dry mix and wet food applications.
It is also suitable for high-quality rotogravure or flexographic printing in up to 10 colours to enhance consumers’ product branding.
The pouches can be filled and sealed on existing packaging equipment.
Functional package
Craig Rutman, the company’s director of sales, global pouching said: “This is a great extension of our product line and provides consumers with a more functional package. It can be tossed into a lunch bag, microwaved and eaten out of with a minimum amount of packaging.”
Sal Pellingra, Ampac Flexibles’ marketing and innovation director adds, “FlexiBowl continues to build on Ampac’s more sustainable flexible packaging innovations that utilize much less material than typical rigid packaging. They improve the product to package ratio and eliminating over packaging and waste.”