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As consumers desire fresher tasting food, the challenge for processors is to produce bacteria-free products while maintaining flavor, color and texture.

Container lightweighting and recycled materials are all well and good, but the real action today is in squeezing more units into less space.

Artfully folded paper is the essence of origami. Inventively folded cardboard is the essence of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.’s Meta boxes.

If the mood seemed upbeat to visitors and exhibitors at November’s PACK EXPO show in Chicago, it was for good reason: Nine in 10 end-users of packaging machinery report their purchases of additional equipment increased or remained the same in 2010’s third quarter, compared to a year earlier, with food and beverage packagers leading the way.

Graphic redesign can be a bear trap for an iconic brand. Doubters need only consider the experience of PepsiCo’s Tropicana, which briefly dropped the orange-and-straw graphic two years ago. 

Gourmet pasta and sauce manufacturer searches for a continuous grilling oven and finds a spiral freezer as well. 

Mass merchandisers aren’t the only customers putting pressure on suppliers to cut material use and shipping weights.

Functionality issues dogged plant-based plastic resins when they debuted, but product development is gradually overcoming them.

Lack of sanitation is the root cause of almost every food poisoning incident and a significant number of the recalls.

As they move into 2011, processors are strong and lean from continuous improvement efforts as well as margin success in the switch from prepared foods to in-home dining.