Aluminium-look plastic breakthrough for Faerch Plast

By Rod Addy

- Last updated on GMT

Aluminium-look plastic breakthrough for Faerch Plast

Related tags Cpet trays Faerch plast Polyethylene terephthalate

Faerch Plast has made a breakthrough by developing a range of aluminium-look Crystalline Polyethylene Terephthalate (CPET) containers for the UK premium ready to cook sector.

The company told FoodProductionDaily.com the innovation is something that many of its customers have demanded for years to give ready meals a premium look and make them stand out.

“Over the years they have had a lot of requests for metallic look containers mainly for premium ready meals, but this has always been very difficult to do,”​ said a spokeswoman for the business.

However, Faerch Plast had finally been able to deliver what it believed was a first for the UK market, she said.

Better tasting meals

In addition to its visual appeal, CPET eliminates negative effects on food flavour and aroma, giving consumers better protected, more versatile and better tasting meals, the company said.

A top layer of co-extruded amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (APET) gives the packaging extremely good sealing properties and a glossy appearance, said Faerch Plast.

The new packs are available in the complete CPET range of styles and single and multi-compartment sizes.

Faerch Plast said CPET trays account for more than 80% of the packaging it sells in the UK.

Pushing technical boundaries

Joe Iannidinardo, managing director at Faerch Plast, said: “This new range is another example of the business pushing technical boundaries to help maintain its competitive edge in the food industry and build further on its share of the ready meal market.

“Achieving a metallic look in CPET trays is notoriously difficult. When polyester crystallises, the colour dulls down resulting in a flat grey at best. We developed a special technique that enables us to get the required metallic effect without compromising on functionality.”

The new process also opened up the possibility to develop other colours such as gold, bronze and copper in the future, said Iannidinardo.

 The new look trays have a wide tolerance to temperatures ranging from -20 to 220 degrees Celsius.

Related topics Processing & Packaging

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