Mondi, the global packaging and paper Group, demonstrated to a record number of attendees at the recent Pack Expo trade fair in Las Vegas, USA, how its packaging solutions are addressing key industry trends for food freshness, safety, flexible packaging and sustainability. Pack Expo was a great success. We had about 20% more booth visitors to meet our team and discuss the latest packaging solutions compared to Pack Expo in Chicago. With a focus on convenience, our products are helping to shape the industry’s response to current consumer trends.

North American Packaging Trends: facts, figures and Mondi solutions
Trend #1: Demand for food freshness – Many consumers aspire to more healthy living, but meeting this goal can prove challenging. Cost, taste and convenience remain important to their buying decisions. Nielsen research shows that 58 percent of global respondents want more all-natural products, and 91 percent of consumers in the USA believe that products with recognizable ingredients are healthier.

SKOG for Food is a new Mondi packaging solution that helps preserve food freshness. Making its premiere in North America, it is Mondi’s newest packaging for food that combines Mondi`s sustainably certified1 speciality kraft paper with proprietary extrusion coating technology. This combination provides a heat-sealable package with the necessary barrier for food freshness and can be used on form-fill-seal machinery reducing plastic use by up to 70%. The bag can be coated with Mondi’s biodegradable barrier Sustainex and is available as window bag.

Trend #2: Food safety is on customer minds – Increasing food safety is an important trend for food producers and consumers. According to a 2017 survey by the IFIC, the number of people who feel “not too confident” with the safety of the U.S. food supply is rising. Today 35% of Millennials are not confident. And 43% of the total population say they have changed their eating habits due to concerns about safety issues, such as foodborne illnesses from bacteria, which still ranks as the most important food safety issue.

Peel Pak is a Mondi product that promotes food safety and purity. The unique bag for packaging dry dairy and related food products suitable for a clean room environment keeps food safe until use. It’s a ‘bag in a bag’: The inner polyethylene bag is heat sealed and can be completely separated from the outer paper plies to prevent the product inside from coming into contact with the paper fibres. The outer paper ply nevertheless assists in safe transportation and palletization.

Trend #3: Increasing use of flexible packaging – Brand managers are turning towards flexible packaging to boost sales by over 20% and reduce production costs, according to the latest study by the Flexible Packaging Association.

CustoMYzed FlexziBox is part of Mondi’s custoMYzed line of consumer packaging that creates every package with unique customer challenges in mind. It offers defined options for premium printing, packaging design, and closing features that allow customers stand out in the market while optimizing production performance. It is suitable for a variety of consumer applications including food and pet food.

Trend #4: Sustainability matters – A study by Unilever reveals that 78% of US consumers say they feel better when they buy products that are sustainably produced.

Mondi’s Water Soluble Film offers a smart, convenient and biodegradable solution for packing and easy dosing of powders, tabs and granulates. It is a more environmentally-friendly solution compared to other packaging as it helps reduce waste. Whether ready-to-use doses of household dishwasher or laundry detergents, or chemicals for industrial applications, Mondi water soluble film provides excellent barrier properties to protect the product and the end-user, making it safe and easy to use.


Albert Klinkhammer is Mondi Group’s Marketing Director. For more information about current industry trends and Mondi’s highlights at Pack Expo, visit http://packexpo.mondigroup.com/en