Foodservice company Raw Seafoods has plunged into retail markets with its Cape Cod Cuisine frozen foods, and Kane Kendall, Director of Marketing, says, “It’s been a totally different ballgame.”

With the laminated paperboard tray the company has chosen, the New Bedford, MA, fish packer is making an innovative splash in the dual-ovenable market. Eight products in the line use trays laminated with a polyester film of thin patterned aluminum, which harnesses and controls microwave energy by channeling it deeper into the frozen food for faster, more even heating. The tray technology comes from Graphic Packaging International.

The 8”x5 1/2”x1 5/8” tray is made from SBS board laminated with polyester/aluminum film. During microwave heating, the aluminum areas reflect the microwave energy into other areas while unshielded areas heat normally.

The complex honeycomb pattern of aluminum keeps edges from crisping while driving energy into the center of the entrée or other food product.

It’s also efficient: Kendall says most of the products are microwaved in six to eight minutes.

The brand encompasses three product lines: meal-sized portions that serve two, single-serve entrées, and appetizers. The products are primarily raw frozen foods. Suggested retail prices are $7.99 to $9.99.

“We know this type of microwave technology is huge in Europe, but this is the first time it has been used in the States in tray form,” Kendall notes.

By Rick Lingle, Packaging World