This
year's Food Marketing Institute show featured lots of new and
CONVENIENT PACKAGES to entice consumers to munch those five-a-day
fruits and veggies.
The steaming bag technology for vegetables is a trend heating up at several FMI
booths this year. One example was in the Green
Giant Fresh booth from Sholl
Group II, an Eden Prairie, MN-based General Mills licensee. Sholl
Group II unveiled Freshtables(R),
a garden of new microwavable vegetable/sauce combinations in microwavable steaming
bags. Both fresh vegetables and fresh fruit are packed under the Freshtables brand. "FreshtablesSteamPerfect(TM)
is the first national brand to come to market with a proprietary
steaming microwave bag," says Darci Eckermann, vp of marketing and
business development for the Sholl Group
II. The 12-oz SteamPerfect microwave
steaming bags serve three to four.
Nine items in the line include various combinations of cut vegetables
as well as single types and sauces that steam in about two minutes. The
varieties include Red Apples and Raisins with Cinnamon Sauce, Broccoli
and Baby Slim Carrots with Cheese Sauce, Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce,
Green Beans with Garlic Butter and more.
Using SteamFast
technology from Excelsior Technologies, Ltd. UK (www.exceltechuk.com),
the bagstock consists of a reverse-gravure-printed PETadhesivePP
laminate. Incorporating a windowed front panel, the custom bag becomes
a steaming vessel that expands under the pressure of the steam created
inside the package when it's microwave-heated. Through the patented
steaming technology, a vent situated between the layers of laminate
contains a specially formulated heat seal that opens at a predetermined
pressure. As the vent releases built-up steam within the puffed bag,
the steam circulates evenly throughout the bag during the cooking
process, distributing the pressure and heat. This reduces cooking time.
Any excess steam pressure is released through the opened valve.
Sholl Group II says that SteamPerfect
has been pioneered in Europe and in the U.S. by Excelsior and is based
on an innovative, patented Japanese concept of microwave cooking. Sold
in the produce section of grocery stores starting this summer in
regional markets, the products will soon roll out nationally. The 12-oz
packages carry a suggested retail price of $3.99. They have a 14-day
refrigerated shelf life.
In another application of the SteamFast
technology, Ocean Mist Farms, in January 2007, introduced 10-oz pouches
of asparagus and Brussels sprouts (3a) that can be microwave-steamed in
just three minutes. The pouches sell for less than $2.99.
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Highlights: Green Giant Fresh, Sholl Group II, Freshtables, Freshtables SteamPerfect, SteamPerfect, SteamFast