On-Package Printing Research

According to recent studies on-package recipes help inform shoppers and can drive increased meat sales, but fewer of them appear in retail cases. A great opportunity exists to take the mystery out of meat preparation for shoppers with consistently tough Cryovac® shrink bags that deliver unmatched process print quality.

Retail Multi-Protein Analysis

Research was recently conducted by the Cryovac® Retail Task Force that evaluated all aspects of in-store back room meat production using independent/moderate conventional formats. They compiled a detailed evaluation of actual store level costs and efficiencies of major proteins and compared test store weighted analysis to available case ready costs.

This economic analysis exposed several hidden costs in retail store operations and validates that case ready is a viable addition and/or alternative to store production. Because extended shelf life packaging greatly reduces shrink, there is a particular opportunity for these whole muscle beef and pork cuts.

One reason for poor sales on these items is many shoppers are unfamiliar with these meat cuts and how to prepare them. Therefore, retailers can reduce their shrink by merchandising In-the-Bag with Cryovac® barrier shrink bags, and with the addition of cooking instructions and recipes, the consumer is more likely to purchase these “mystery meats”. In addition, by adding a process print photo of the cooked product to a raw meat package, the consumer is able to relate better to the purchase with an attractive image and a serving suggestion for the product.

National Meat Case Study 2007

Sealed Air's Cryovac Food Packaging Unit, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the National Pork Board teamed up in 2007 to conduct an extensive audit of the nation’s meat cases. This research project, the National Meat Case Study 2007, was benchmarked against the same study conducted in 2004 and 2002 to provide further insights into emerging retail trends nationally.

Findings from this research showed that printed on package cooking information declined by 2 percentage points overall on fresh meat packages from 2004 to 2007.

• Compared to 34 percent in 2004, only 32 percent of packages contained cooking instructions in 2007. There was improvement in the pork roasts category with more cooking instructions included on the package while fewer beef roasts had instructions.
• View comparison of pork and beef roast packages without cooking instructions.

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