Rice is the latest product to cater to consumer convenience with resealable zippers. Two-pound bags of rice sold by Lundberg Family Farms, a major supplier of organic rice grown in the U.S., features a resealable zipper at the top of the package. The flexible package is comprised of 2mil low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film from Progressive Packaging. The zipper is placed on the package by AMI/Recpro’s TopZip system that places the reclosable plastic zipper on the top of the bag in-line after it passes through the Woodman form-fill-seal unit. Woodman’s Spectra combination weigher, attached to the form-fill-seal unit, runs 50 bags per minute at the Lundberg facility. According to Steve Clement, production manager at Lundberg, the company choose Woodman because it was one of the few form-fill-seal machines that included a combination weigher.

The four Lundberg brands currently in the resealable bags include Organic White Jasmine rice, Nutra-formed Brown Basmati, Organic White Basmati and Organic Sushi.