Packages across categories are getting smaller, and the trend toward more portable beverage and prepared-food containers will drive the increased use of plastics in rigid food packaging in the U.S. market.

Murray's Chicken, New City, NY, is elevating eco-awareness to a higher level in case-ready meat by introducing a film package for fresh poultry that eliminates the use of polystyrene foam trays.

Consumers long have expressed frustration with the mess that comes with opening, closing, and handling bacon packaging. Oscar Mayer takes a corrective step with its StayFresh Reclosable Tray.

Increased competition for space in refrigerated cases at grocery stores is shifting product marketers' focus toward food packaging that can deliver a long, ambient shelf life elsewhere in the store. French food manufacturer William Saurin believes it has a solution with its new range of ambient pâtés in innovative thermoformed packaging.

In southeast China, packaging for food that can spoil has to work doubly hard. Beyond brand communication, it has to protect the product from the region ’ s heat and humidity.

In South Korea supermarkets, Daesang, a food marketer, has re- launched its Daesang-brand luncheon meat and pork products in rectangular two-piece aluminum cans closed with an Easy Peel® end, designed by Impress.

The emphasis on convenience drives so many food packaging decisions today, and it may have a greater influence on the packages we see in the future than anything else out there. The following are new examples in the battle for shelf supremacy in convenience packaging:

The “Wal-Mart” effect is making its influence felt in case-ready meat, shifting the nature of meat shopping to fit its one-stop shopping convenience platform. Wal-Mart’s success with this packaging format may prompt other high-volume retailers, as well as grocery stores, to offer more convenience products in case-ready meat.

A study from management consultant Kline & Co. says this trend will result in a 6% increase in the use of high-barrier packaging films over the next several years as retailers continue to decrease the “footprint” in their stores for fresh meat while increasing their offerings of case-ready, marinated and nearly ready-to-eat meat selections. These convenience-oriented prepared foods eliminate steps in meal preparation for busy consumers.

“Wal-Mart has been a tremendous force in case-ready meat retailing,” says Sharon Derbyshire with Kline Research. “They really want to stock this product much like they do consumer goods—get individual packages in, put them in the bins, and sell them.”