Keeping a lid on pre-prepared meals

Lidding technology pioneer KM Packaging Services is seeing a sharp increase in demand for more secure film solutions as the global popularity of pre-prepared meals continues to flourish.

With the affordable ‘dine-in’ trend showing no signs of abating, the largest growth area has been in ready-to-roast joints and cuts of meat. However, food manufacturers are grappling with the rising cost of meat, which in turn increases pressure to ensure long-term product safety.

One of the most common problems with meat products is their tendency to release moisture. If lidding seals are not secure, this can cause the product to leak and spread bacteria to other foods close by, which would need to be discarded. This type of wastage can have a significant financial impact on a business.

KM Packaging has been helping food manufacturers achieve reliable seal integrity of lidding film for aluminium foil trays for over a decade and has one of the largest stock holdings of film material in Europe.

The company has extensive experience in working with a range of film thicknesses as well as specialist applications such as high barrier films used for gas retention with MAP processes, antifog films and ovenable solutions.

“We supply leading retail brands both in the UK and overseas with a range of oven-ready pre-prepared meals and one of our biggest issues had been understanding how different film materials reacted with different foil trays in different environments,” said one UK-based customer.

“We were recommended KM Packaging by one of our overseas machinery suppliers and the service they have provided us has been exceptional. Following a detailed review of our product range, processing methods and an analysis of transportation environments and end storage facilities, KM Packaging provided us with several different lidding solutions suitable for different trays.

“These have all performed beyond our expectations and some of our largest customers have even commented to say how impressed they are.”