PulPac licensee, Stora Enso, announces the opening of a groundbreaking Dry Molded Fiber Production Unit in Skene, Sweden. The facility is the largest and most advanced of its kind, marking a significant milestone in sustainable packaging technology. Production is set to begin in Q4 2024 after successful large-scale testing.
Stora Enso’s Skene Production Unit utilises PulPac’s innovative Dry Molded Fiber process to produce high-performance formed fiber products, such as cup lids, designed to replace traditional plastics in food and beverage packaging. Unlike conventional wet forming, the dry process reduces water and energy consumption significantly, thus offering an even more sustainable manufacturing method for fiber-based packaging. Additionally, any excess material is recaptured and reused, ensuring a circular process with minimal waste.
At the heart of this innovation is the advanced technology developed by PulPac, the leading company in the field. Their Dry Molded Fiber technology provides efficient production at high speeds, enabling Stora Enso to meet growing market demand for fully renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable fiber-based packaging solutions.
The products produced with Dry Molded Fiber offer a significantly lower CO2 footprint compared to single-use plastics. The dry forming process offers also flexibility in barrier additives for customised functionality as well as an excellent surface finish with the option to advanced decoration possibilities.
Sustainability is at the core of Stora Enso’s operations. Implementing Dry Molded Fiber is an example how they continue to lead the transition to circular, low-carbon solutions in the packaging industry, making a lasting impact on both the environment and the communities it serves.
Pomegranate Fiber offers added nutrients to a variety of food applications, continuing POM Wonderful’s commitment to better-for-you ingredients
POM Wonderful, a worldwide leader of California-grown pomegranates and No. 1 pomegranate juice in North America, announced the addition of Pomegranate Fiber to its growing specialty ingredients lineup. The Pomegranate Fiber, which is upcycled from POM Wonderful pomegranate husks after juicing, is a GRAS, fiber-dense powder that can be used in a variety of food applications, including crackers, sauces, dressings, baked goods and plant-based food.
Pomegranate Fiber is made under POM Wonderful’s growing Specialty Ingredients division, which provides raw ingredients to suppliers across the food and beverage industry. Pomegranate Fiber has numerous culinary benefits — it can help draw out flavour and colour, and in baked goods, the powder enhances browning, which ultimately reduces cook times. It has soluble and insoluble fiber plus antioxidant goodness and polyphenols.
Pomegranate Fiber is made from upcycled materials using the husk of pomegranate fruit. POM Wonderful uses a proprietary method to press whole pomegranates to create POM 100 % Pomegranate Juice. After the initial press, the husks are then pressure extracted to create POMxL, a concentrated liquid extract that is also part of POM’s specialty ingredient line-up — the remaining pomegranate husk is dried and milled to create Pomegranate Fiber.
“We are thrilled to add another specialty ingredient to our line-up that is versatile and upholds our commitment to nourishing naturally,” said Jason Horvath, sales manager for POM Wonderful Specialty Ingredients. “With the Pomegranate Fiber, we are providing better-for-you options to the food and beverage industry while continuing our work towards a zero-waste future.”
The addition of the Pomegranate Fiber comes on the heels of POMxL’s Upcycled Certification, further underscoring POM Wonderful’s commitment to sustainability and product innovation.
Sustainability is at the forefront for POM Wonderful. In 2020, POM Wonderful launched the Innovation Challenge, offering $1 million in funding and development resources to innovators who could develop an economical and environmentally friendly solution to upcycle its 60,000 tons of pomegranate husks. In 2022, POM Wonderful transitioned all its 16oz bottles of POM Wonderful juices to 100 % rPET (recycled plastic)* and completed work on its solar farm, which provides more than 90 % of the company’s electricity needs for its Del Rey, California processing facility.
To date, The Wonderful Company and its owners, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, have invested more than $1.3 billion in environmental sustainability initiatives to help fight climate change. This commitment includes the historic $750 million gift from the Resnicks to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in support of the school’s environmental sustainability research.
*Excludes cap
SIG defines ambitious roadmap to 2030
SIG is to raise the proportion of fiber in its aseptic carton structure. The company plans to develop a full-barrier aluminum-free aseptic packaging structure with at least 90 % fiber content by 2030, with an interim target of at least 85 % by 2025.
Increasing the FSCTM-certified (Forest Stewardship Council™) fiber content of its aseptic cartons and expanding its aluminum-free solutions are key to SIG’s strategy of achieving higher recyclability of carton packs.
This supports SIG’s ultimate ambition to enable carton packs to be recycled anywhere in the world, which is especially true for markets that have little established infrastructure for recycling.
Samuel Sigrist, CEO at SIG: “Our carton packs have a low energy intensity, are produced with 100 % renewable electricity, and consist predominantly of renewable resources from the forest. Now we want to take this even further by increasing collection and recycling of cartons through existing beverage carton recycling systems, and via paper streams. Increasing the proportion of fiber content in aseptic cartons opens this opportunity and aligns with the wider trend towards paperization in the packaging industry. The FSC-certified renewable paperboard used in our packs ensures that we are promoting responsible forestry practices that prioritize biodiversity conservation.”
The packaging industry and wider society need to transition to a circular economy, as our planet’s resources are finite and its capacity to absorb waste is limited. Growing consumer demand for more sustainable packaging is an important pull factor for food and beverage companies to transition to ever more sustainable packaging.
SIG’s new commitments are an important step in the company’s journey to create packaging for better. Packaging that gives more to people and the planet than it takes out. This means removing more carbon from the atmosphere than is emitted during the lifecycle of the packaging. It also means packaging that is made from endlessly renewable or recycled materials and that is fully and easily recyclable anywhere in the world.
Read more about SIG’s sustainability strategy and industry-leading goals across the four positives – Climate+, Forest+, Resource+ and Food+: https://www.sig.biz/en/responsibility/sustainability.
Louis Dreyfus Company B.V. announced the successful development of a new product made from not-from-concentrate (NFC) orange juice, presenting a 30 % reduction in natural sugar content and more than triple dietary fiber content, while preserving original taste (Brix value) and vitamin C level.
Further to a five-year research effort by the Group’s in-house R&D laboratory team of food engineers, chemists and biotechnologists in Bebedouro, São Paulo State, Brazil, LDC has developed a successful process to reduce sugar content in orange juice, in line with the company’s commitment to offer nutritious, high-quality juices that address growing consumer demand.
“Complementing our extensive portfolio of juices and ingredients from Brazilian-grown citrus fruits, this new product represents another positive step in LDC’s strategy to diversify revenue through value-added products, including specialty ingredients and products like this one,” said Juan José Blanchard, LDC’s Global Head of Juice. “Leveraging our global network and partnerships, LDC aims to bring this new product to the global market in collaboration with leading beverage industry players, contributing to the advent of healthy, nutritious juice product options that respond to consumer expectations, while continuing to invest in R&D activities targeting further reductions in sugar content.”
Although commercial roll-out is initially focused on Asia Pacific, with an initial launch planned in early 2023 in China, the new product is available to industry customers worldwide, including in Europe, North America and South America, where the Group sees growing consumer demand for healthy, nutritious, great-tasting diet options.
Functional food company So Good So You, one of the top producers of immune-boosting probiotic juice shots in the US, announces Fiber, its first formulation with fiber. The cold-pressed juice shot features five grams of organic fiber sourced from the seeds of the guar plant, and provides almost 20 percent of the recommended daily value of dietary fiber. Fiber, formulated with organic strawberry, plum, and clementine juices, plus one billion CFUs of probiotics, is launching this month exclusively at Southeastern Grocers, including Winn-Dixie, Fresco y Mas, and Harveys.
American fiber consumption is an overlooked health crisis. Only seven percent of Americans are getting their recommended daily amount of fiber, according to recent findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, an ongoing study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fiber is the food source, both directly and indirectly, for the hundreds of species of bacteria that live in the human intestinal tract and are essential for a healthy gut. The short-chain fatty acids released by fiber-eating bacteria fight inflammation in the entire body, and chemical signals given off by the same bacteria keep the cells in the intestinal wall functioning. Inadequate dietary fiber can starve these probiotic bacteria, leading to an inflamed immune response, which in turn causes weight gain, inflammatory bowel disease, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and overall higher mortality.
“Our brand has reached a point where customers help point the way they want us to go, and they have been asking for a shot they can turn to on days they need a little help meeting healthy fiber goals,” says So Good So You co-founder and executive chair, Rita Katona. “Our consumers are invested in their health and want to always feel their best — and are learning fiber might be one of the key pieces. Americans vastly overestimate the amount of fiber in their diets — less than 10 percent are hitting the mark. It’s too easy to get it wrong, and this isn’t the time to take chances with your immune system. We’ve shown up with this organic fiber shot that delivers a gorgeous purple from nutrient-rich plum juice, with a strawberry-plum flavour that really sings.”
Fiber, the newest addition to the So Good So You line of 50 ml cold-pressed juice shots, is made with 18 percent of the recommended daily amount of fiber to fight inflammation and support healthy functioning of the immune system; 30 percent of the recommended daily amount of Vitamin C; and one billion CFUs of vegan probiotics clinically proven to support digestive and immune health.
The woman-owned, WBENC-certified So Good So You continues to expand store distribution across the US, adding flavours in its best-selling immunity shot and energy shot categories, in addition to Fiber. So Good So You owns 25 percent of the functional juice shot category, and has grown more than 380 percent in the last 24 months by meeting consumer demand for convenient, targeted, immunity-boosting health supplements.
B1U™ brand will launch functional infused waters, featuring real ingredients including zinc, vitamin C, black tea caffeine, fiber and protein
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., the agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 farmer families, announced the launch of the B1U™ brand, a new beverage line featuring on-trend functional benefits, simple ingredients, easy-to-understand nutrition, and recyclable packaging. The B1U™ brand aims to demystify nutrition so everyone can make educated and personalized decisions for their own unique body and ultimately “Own the One You™”.
Ocean Spray is continuing its expansion into the health and wellness categories as 65 % of consumers report wanting more functionality out of their food and beverage products*. In order to meet this demand; the B1U™ brand is first unveiling an environmentally conscious, accessible enhanced water as the first product in its line to be followed by further beverage additions in the future.
The B1U™ brand of functional infused waters features four flavors with no sugar or artificial sweeteners:
- I need a boost™: Watermelon cucumber infused water with 60 mg of black tea caffeine
- I need rhythm™: Strawberry basil infused water with 8 g of plant-based fiber
- I need immunity™: Lemon chamomile infused water with 22 mg of zinc and 128 mg of vitamin C
- I need power™: Peach kiwi infused water with 10 g of protein
The B1U™ brand is on-shelf in the U.S. at select Target stores this month, will be available at select Walmart stores in December, and is currently available for purchase on Amazon. B1U is available in 16 oz fully recyclable bottles.
*Kerry Group, Proactive Health: Consumer Demand for Functional Benefits, 2019
Just in time for FIE, the Hamburg- based ingredients specialist Bösch Boden Spies presents a new product in its range: Cranberry Seeds from Ocean Spray.
Seeds are all the rage because they give food texture and provide valuable nutrients. The new Cranberry Seeds from Ocean Spray go one step further: with their bright red color, they are also a visual highlight, and turn every product into an eye-catcher.
The red color is one hundred percent natural and comes directly from the fruit. The seeds also provide valuable fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, and consist of 20 % plant-based protein. In this way they enhance food not just visually, but also functionally, and give it a crunchy texture.
Ocean Spray Cranberry Seeds offer a wide range of possible applications, e.g. in snacks, baked goods, muesli and granola bars, yoghurt and salad toppings, spice mixes, smoothies and drinks.
They are harvested from the flesh of ripe cranberries, from which they are separated using a physical process, and then dried to the desired degree of moisture.
The seeds are a by-product of cranberry production. By making them usable, Ocean Spray is able to utilize the entire fruit – a further step towards sustainability for the company.
