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BY GAIL BARNES SUSTAINABILITY SPECIALIST
According to the 2016 Food Packaging Trends and Advances report from PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, the US food industry is forecast to grow at a steady rate of 2.9% CAGR through 2022.
Based on interviews from 70 professionals across the food processing and packaging industry in the US and overseas, the study forecasts that meat and related products and snack foods will outperform the market with over 3% growth. The growth in these two segments is attributed to consumer demand for portion control and convenience options.
Global market growth
The US food industry trails the global market and, while North America is the largest global market across all food segments, the overall growth of the food industry, which includes food packaging, is being driven by emerging markets like Argentina, Brazil, China and India.
Global growth rates for most segments are double US growth rates, except for meat and related products (8.5%), and candy and confections (8%), which have higher rates of global growth compared to those of the United States.
Innovation in the US food industry
US food packaging innovations are often concepts that are already in use in other segments and innovations from other countries are beginning to enter the US food packaging market. One trend that meat manufacturers find exciting is a product with a film that opens during cooking which allows the meat to brown after a pre-determined period of time.
The most innovative food industry segments are:
Consumer demand continues to drive the industry, as noted in the top five packaging trends: convenience, flexibles, safety, sustainability and technology.
Growth in flexible packaging
With regard to flexible packaging, respondents to the PMMI study noted the use of plastic overall has grown 8% since 2012 and bags and pouches have grown 3.5%.
While recycling alternatives for flexible packaging remain limited, composting with food waste could provide an end-of-life solution for flexible packaging. A sign of the times – a World Food Innovation Award for best environmental/CSR initiative was recently given to a company for its range of 100% compostable flexible packaging for fresh produce.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024