BurrellesLuce Express
75 East Northfield Road / Livingston, NJ / 973-992-6600
| PUBLICATION: |
FOOD & DRUG PACKAGING |
| DATE: |
06-01-2007 |
| HEADLINE: |
Steaming while nuking is hot food trend |
Steaming while nuking is hot food trend
Food processors are coming up with an array of new products, both
frozen and fresh, that are intended to be steamed in the microwave.
Products from several major food companies use packaging that allows
steam to build up during microwaving. This is usually done through
vents or tiny perforations, in either the film or rigid components of
the packaging, that allow steam generated by the product's moisture to
build up and escape gradually.
New steamed products include:
• Steamfresh from Birds Eye Foods. This line of 17 frozen vegetables
sold $100 million after its introduction last year—a figure Birds Eye
expects to more than double this vear. A spokesperson
called it "our biggest new product innovation in 25 years." • Café Steamers
from ConAgra Foods.
Scheduled to be introduced this summer, this line of 12 frozen dinners
under ConAgra's Healthy Choice label uses a tray-in-tray format to
steam different components of tbe meal at varying levels. The sauce
compartment has tiny holes to let tbe steam rise through the meal in
the perforated top tray.
• Green Giant Simply Steam vegetables from General Mills. These boxed
frozen vegetables have an interior bag that allows the product to
steam in the microwave. General Mills rolled out two varieties of
Simply Steam last summer and added eight more this year. In addition.
Green Giant Fresh, a General Milk licensee operated by Scholl Group II,
unveiled Freshtables, a line of fresh vegetables in a vented flexible
bag designed to steam in the microwave, at this year's Food Marketing
Institute (EMI) show.
• Steamers from McCormick & Co. Two extensions of McCormick's
spice/steam bag combo, which was brought out last year for vegetables,
were unveiled at FMI: Potato Steamers, for cubed or whole new potatoes,
and Seafood Steamers, for fish fillets, shrimp and other seafood
products.