Packaging is usually developed simply to protect products during transportation, storage and display. However, in some circumstances, more complex packaging can be useful. A company looked at markets where temperature control, such as frozen products, is critical and this led to an innovative, resource-efficient and convenient new packaging being developed.

The Tetra Fino® Aseptic 100 Ultra MiM, produced by Tetra Pak, is a type of beverage packaging that can be used in two ways. It primarily targets single-use beverage products for children. But it can also be used to turn a liquid product into a frozen product without any change to the drink's initial recipe.

The commercial advantage is that a beverage company can now sell two products instead one, a drink and a frozen product or ice-cream, without any extra development cost. But there is also a resource efficiency argument: transporting and warehousing frozen products is highly energy-demanding, and requires separate freezing equipment. With this innovative packaging, a frozen product can be stored and transported at room temperature (no extra refrigeration needed).

Result

Using this new packaging design, companies can achieve both energy and logistics savings. The same applies to consumers: they do not have to freeze the product until they want to eat it, nor do they have to worry about getting the product from the shop to their freezer before it melts.

For Tetra Pak, the development of this product was rather fast. It took only a year and a half, with the use of new injection moulding technologies. The new package is expected to be available from 2018 in the Greater Middle East, Europe and Asia.