Dive Brief:

• Tetra Pak is launching its first North American trial facility for Recart, a longstanding line of cartons for food products, as it seeks to boost adoption in the U.S. market and take share in many food categories that have historically been packaged in cans.
• The company says the facility, located at a University of Georgia center, will allow commercial testing for shelf stability, food safety and product formulation purposes in this retail packaging format.
• While Tetra Pak highlights beans, fruits, pet food and sauces as optimal products for this format, prepared foods are another area where Tetra Pak is interested in seeing more testing, said Javier Quel, vice president business sector for Tetra Recart.

Dive Insight:

The Recart product line has been available in the U.S. for about a decade, but Quel said it’s become more cost competitive. About two years ago, the company began laminating, cutting and sealing the packages in one factory rather than in two different locations, which resulted in both logistics and productivity savings.

The company highlights potential sustainability benefits, including more efficient space-saving design with the rectangular packages for stacking, storing, transporting and stocking on shelves, versus cylindrical cans. Tetra Pak says the fiber-based design is easily reclosable.

The company is targeting brand owners, which account for 70% of its business, as well as copackers, which make up the remainder.

Certain international markets have advanced further in the adoption of Recart, Quel said, noting that consumer sentiment in areas of Europe has shifted to support the transition of certain foods, such as tomatoes, from cans to cartons.

The trial facility is located at UGA’s Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center in Griffin, Georgia. Tetra Pak could have located the trial site at one of its own company facilities, but housing it at a university allows “more opportunities for different players to do more research,” Quel said.

Those interested in doing research at the facility do not necessarily have to be prospective customers. FoodPIC can also help create “strategic alliances with external engineering, marketing and technology groups to bring an idea to life from concept and research to formulation, prototyping and market launch,” according to the recent announcement. Internationally, Tetra Pak has trial facilities in China, Sweden and Brazil.