Compostable packaging makes opening Perdue's online products nice

Perdue e-commerce box — A delivery of meat products from Perdue Farms comes with a reusable tote, and you can rinse the foam insulation down the drain.

*Photos courtesy of Perdue Farms*

Perdue e-commerce packaging — A delivery of meat products from Perdue Farms comes with a reusable tote, and you can rinse the foam insulation down the drain.

*Photos courtesy of Perdue Farms*

Perdue tote — A delivery of meat products from Perdue Farms comes with a reusable tote, and you can rinse the foam insulation down the drain.

*Photos courtesy of Perdue Farms*

Perdue meat products — A delivery of meat products from Perdue Farms comes with a reusable tote, and you can rinse the foam insulation down the drain.

*Photos courtesy of Perdue Farms*

Perdue Farms is getting into online sales, and its shipping packaging hits many consumer priorities.

Your bundle of frozen products—dinosaur-shaped nuggets, bacon, breakfast sausage, pork chops and chicken tenderloins in the medium family pack—comes in a box lined with insulating Green Cell Foam. All packaging is recyclable. The foam is made of water-soluble cornstarch that you can compost or even disintegrate under running water and safely rinse down your kitchen sink.

We talk a lot in this column about telling products’ stories and trying to delight people when they open their delivered boxes just inside their front doors or in their kitchens.

Perdue Farms adds in a reusable grocery tote with cute chicken drawings and a pack of seeds to attract bees and butterflies. And the company will make a donation to the Arbor Day Foundation for each sale to help offset the shipment’s carbon footprint. Perdue says that will equate to removing more than 70 pounds of CO₂ from the atmosphere per order.

The company says the e-commerce site takes its products where people are increasingly shopping for meat and other perishables. Right now, the site sells items from its Perdue, Niman Ranch, Coleman Natural, Sonoma Red and Skagit Red brands. The company expects to offer more products as demand increases.

“As both online shopping and the demand for convenience show no signs of slowing down, we felt it was important to be in this space,” says David Zucker, Perdue Farms senior vice president of e-commerce and new ventures. “We’re excited that this is the first time we’ve been able to offer so many of our brands in one place, nationally. Now, consumers all over the country will be able to enjoy expanded offerings from our portfolio regardless of where they live, including heritage, organic, pasture raised, pork, beef, chicken or lamb — all raised with no antibiotics ever by farm families with the highest standards of animal care.”

For more information, visit www.perduefarms.com.