Canning line at Hirzel Canning Co. & Farms in Northwood, OH, runs a consumer-friendly, three-piece metal can for pizza sauce and Italian dip that offers easy-opening, snap-on, reclosable convenience and no sharp edges.

Listening closely to busy consumers, packagers and canmakers are making more strides in metal container innovations than in decades in order to satisfy demand. And retailers have quickly caught on to the new developments.

Listening closely to busy consumers, packagers and canmakers are making more strides in metal container innovations than in decades in order to satisfy demand. And retailers have quickly caught on to the new developments. Stores are now stocking an array of new metal cans with convenience features such as portability, easy-opening, reclosability and easy-grip configurations. There are also advances in freshness liners, as well as specially shaped cans and self-cooling, self-heating, microwavable and even twist-top cans. Other easy-open cans in Silgan's mix have also given petfood producer Iams a new breed of package for its Eukanuba line. One juicy example of such a convenient new package is a steel food can being used by Hirzel Canning Co. & Farms, Northwood, OH, just South of Toledo. Hirzel packs Dei Fratelliw (meaning "of the brothers") Presto! tomato-based Pizza Sauce and Italian Dip (the latter, a bread-dipping sauce) in an easy-to-open, reclosable, 12-oz can that uses Silgan Containers'  Dot-Top(tm) technology. Silgan licenses the technology from Metalgrafica Rojek SA, a family-owned business based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Layers of empty cans are manually off-loaded from their slipsheeted pallets onto a bulk accumulation conveyor before the cans convey to a rinser/cleaner. Hirzel, a major Ohio manufacturer of canned tomato and sauerkraut products, is a third- and fourth-generation, family-owned food processor in business since 1923. The vertically integrated company has three processing plants in northwestern Ohio, and extensive greenhouse and farming operations and processes its raw tomato and cabbage (sauerkraut) products, actually growing some of them from seed. Hirzel packs an assortment of more than 100 products for retail and foodservice applications in several sizes of metal cans, glass jars and flexible packages. The company's unique bulk aseptic-storage facility for tomato concentrate is one of only six in the entire country. A progressive processor and packager, Hirzel takes the needs of its customers seriously to stay ahead. The company offers the two Dei Fratelli products in a conventional, 15-oz can with a flat-panel end that requires a can opener. But Hirzel likes to stay on top of new packaging developments, and was one of the first to use a white lining inside its cans to prevent a metallic flavor from migrating into its products. It was also a pioneer of the use of four-color labels on cans. For the two sauces, Hirzel explored other easy-open end options, but didn't find what it was after until it discovered the Dot Top, and liked what it saw.