Manufacturers today face many challenges when it comes to designing packaging materials for the snack and bakery market, especially as the consumption cycle of packaged foods grows longer. The demand for clean labels continues to increase, and consumers want healthy snack foods in easy-to-access formats that reflect a healthy image.
Consumers seek packaging formats and sizes specific to their needs at a given point in the day, says Tom Egan, vice president of industry services, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies/PMMI, Reston, VA. “Walking down the snack food aisle, it is evident that pouches of all types are a prime packaging format to address these consumer desires. The resulting SKU explosion requires manufacturers to quickly juggle their packaging and processing operations to handle varied product formulas, multiple ingredients, different package sizes and even package printing.”