SA NOMINATIONS FOR GLOBAL FOOD AWARDS: PACKAGING A WINNER!

Category 1: Product and/or Process Innovation

chocolate.

Category 2: Package Innovation

Adjudged a significant improvement on the old pack that effectively relaunches and rejuvenates a stalwart brand in SA, the new Cremora pack offers several notable points of consumer convenience and tamper-evidence. It’s developed and realised by Cinqplast-Plastop via several design breakthroughs.

>Launched as a gift for Mother’s Day, Woolworths hand-made wire heart for sweets  ticked both aesthetic and ethical boxes for the judges. These wire hearts, filled with nougat and Turkish Delight, are made by a community project in Cape Town.

While not necessarily newsworthy in other parts of the world, South Africa’s first long-life milk in plastic bottles was deemed a ground-breaking initiative for this country, adding a notable point of difference from the ubiquitous carton, and arguably has been one of South Africa’s most interesting food packaging developments in recent years. The judges recognised that this took a huge leap of faith and capital (R150m) by Woolworths and its partners in the project, Homsek Dairy and Nampak Liquid.

Exotic mushrooms are high-value fresh produce but have a very short shelf life as a result of dehydration and bacterial growth – both of which are linked to the amount of free moisture that’s retained within the packaging bag. The judges were impressed by Knilam’s macro-permeable blockbottom FreshWorks film bag for Nouvelle Mushrooms, which regulates the optimum humidity balance inside the sealed bag and extends product shelf life by 30% while reducing wastage by 50%.

Category 3: Communicating science-related knowledge to consumers

The four finalists in this category are Unilever’s Flora ‘Test the Nation’, campaign with Pick n Pay – free cholesterol test and heart health information; Unilever’s ‘The Big Fat Truth Revealed’, educational campaign on role of essential fats in the diet; Woolworths’ ‘Farming for the Future’ initiative, a sustainable approach to farming; and Unilever’s Rama ‘Spread for Bread’ educational campaign aimed at low-income families on the value of essential fats.

Ed’s note: the South African finalists will do battle against entries from 13 other countries and will  be evaluated by a global panel of judges, with the ultimate winners announced during the IUFoST Global Food Science Congress in Cape Town, August 22 to 26. For more information visit www.iufost2010.org.za