Bemis heats up award-winning sandwich pouch for Hillshire

Flexible packaging specialists at Bemis have crafted a heat-and-eat sandwich pouch for Hillshire Brands, landing an achievement award in the process.

The Heat Fresh package, created for Hillshire Brands microwavable breakfast sandwiches, combines proprietary films and structure to control moisture, heat, and pressure while the food is heated. The design landed a gold award in the Technical Innovation category during the recent Flexible Packaging Association’s Achievement Awards, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Creative engineering

William Jackson, vice president and chief technology officer of Bemis, said the company’s flexible packaging honors reflect its dedication to creative packaging engineering.

"We transform our customers' ideas and needs into packaging for their brands while meeting consumer demand for freshness, appeal, and convenience,” he said. “We are pleased to collaborate with innovative customers like Hillshire."

Pouch structure

The Heat Fresh package is designed to eliminate problems found in microwavable sandwich packaging, such as keeping the bread soft while heating the rest of the item. According to the company, the package design can be used on a broad range of heat-and-eat edibles.

The Flexible Packaging Achievement awards have been produced by the Flexible Packaging Association since 1956. Designed to advance the use of flexible packaging, the competition recognizes packaging producers for excellence, technical accomplishment, printing achievement, and sustainability and environmental properties.