CHOCOLATE PACKAGING
For its nucao fruits and nucao nuts packaging, The Nu Company is using a paper material that offers a good oxygen, mineral oil, and grease barrier.
“Transitioning to the paper-based structure will not require major changes in the existing machine park of our customers on common packing lines,” says Melinda. and seal (FFS) solutions, the MonoFlex Fibre product range offers barrier properties against grease, moisture, oxygen, light or mineral oils.
Goal achieved
A pioneer for vegan and sustainable chocolate products, The Nu Company was keen to ensure the sustainability credentials of its nucao chocolate brand and so it set out to switch all its packaging to paper, a goal that, according to Mathias Schwarz, Sustainable Packaging Engineer at nucao, it has achieved this year. “All our nucao fruits and nucao nuts chocolate products have been packaged in paper since 2022. Our five chocolate bars now also come in paper packaging, and most recently our new chocolate bars also have 100% paper packaging. We are continuing to look for ways to make our packaging even more sustainable, for example by reducing the amount of material used.
For its nucao fruits and nucao nuts packaging, The Nu Company is using Koehler NexPlus Advanced which is said to have good oxygen, mineral oil, and grease barrier, which is important when in direct contact with chocolate and nuts. The paper packaging can be placed in the paper recycling after use. “We opted for Koehler NexPlus Advanced 75 gsm after extensive tests,” says Mathias. “In addition to product protection – which was assessed using
34 Kennedy’s Confection October 2024
storage tests with a subsequent sensory analysis, the fact that the paper could be recycled in the paper recycling was an important factor. Another important point for us was its rating of 19 out of a possible 20 points from environment service provider, Interzero.”
Sustainable choices
“One of the most important trends in confectionery packaging is the prominent role played by perceptions around sustainability in shaping brand reputation and consumer loyalty,” said Tomas Larsson, Head of Product Line FBB and SBS at Stora Enso. He cited a recent survey that showed 73% of consumers see sustainability as essential. “Of course, consumers need to be presented with sustainable choices for their chocolate products to be able to select the most environmentally friendly options. On top of this, consumers also expect packaging that looks appealing and preserves the chocolate’s flavour,” he continues. “We have found that it is possible to cut down raw material usage and carbon emissions without compromising the product’s technical properties.” One example of this is Performa Light board where the reduction in carbon emissions comes from the use of Stora Enso’s FiberLight Tec technology and microfibrillated cellulose. This means that less energy and materials are needed to produce Performa Light, while its lighter weight means a lower environmental impact from transportation. “When it comes to customer experience, this material is well-suited to printing premium designs,” says Tomas. “And it can offer robust protection of the product
from its taste and odour neutral nature, making it well suited to chocolate.”
A printing dilemma
The packaging strategy for a new product from The Good Chocolate Company’s had two key goals. Firstly, it wanted to create a small-sized piece of chocolate that would cost less than $2.50 and secondly it needed a package that looked beautiful and would catch consumer attention. Glassine paper was chosen as the packaging material thanks to it being an economical choice that also provided the high impact packaging solution that was such an important element of the project. However, initially The Good Chocolate Company had problems printing onto the glassine paper, and so was only able to print onto labels. At the time, laser printing did not allow for a lot of ink and colouring on the glassine and The Good Chocolate really wanted a glassine package that would take an imprint of the image of the goddess Victory, in six different colours for its six different chocolate flavours.
The company approached JBM for a solution. “We had yet to print such detailed, gradient artwork on glassine, but we ran tests of the required artwork with success. We were then able to move forward with this project. After experimenting with different Pantone colours, different thicknesses of glassine paper, and different image resolutions, we were able to achieve the desired result,” says Ashley Finkes, Director of Marketing at JBM Packaging.
Glassine is a pulp-based material that is often mistaken for other substrates, such as wax paper, parchment, or even plastic.
KennedysConfection.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
