Avery Dennison Flexis Oxygen Valve

The Avery Dennison Flexis Oxygen Valve is a multi-level solution to oxygenating meats. The valve provides retailers with greater control over when packaged meat will bloom for placement in display cases.

Retailers using the valve method to oxygenate meat receive the products in individual trays, each covered with a clear high-barrier lidding film equipped with the two-part valve. The valve’s upper layer, which functions as an integral part of the protective lidding film, can be clear or printed. When that layer is peeled away, it reveals a second, permeable layer that permits the entry of oxygen. Packages of meat can be oxygenated one at a time, allowing retailers the flexibility to pick for the display case any number of packages that arrived in a shipment. Also, unlike other technologies, once the top layer of the Flexis Oxygen valve is removed it does not require the entire package to be relabelled. All the labels applied at the meat processor remain intact until the product is opened by the consumer.

The Flexis Oxygen Valve method is also claimed to help facilitate packaging materials savings over alternative methods of packaging meat, such as the use of a ‘mother bag’. Both the mother bag and an oxygen scavenger are eliminated with the Flexis valve method, which requires only that packaged meat be shipped in cartons, not in bags. Meat processors will also see a savings in the amount of gas used when flushing individual packages versus a large mother bag.

Packages equipped with Flexis Oxygen Valves are shipped in cartons, not in bags, and therefore lend their respective packages to more stable and efficient storage and transport. More of the product can be stored on a cube and evenly distributed, which can help reduce shipping expenses.

The underlying permeable layer of the valves looks like a typical label on a package of meat and can serve as a sales stimulus.