Sealed Air’s Cryovac Brand Wins AmeriStar Award for Innovative Marinating Package

The Cryovac Marinade on Demand package is a two-part, thermoformed rollstock package that separates fresh protein from a marinade, creating an easy and sanitary marinating process.

20 May 2010 --- Sealed Air’s Cryovac brand received an AmeriStar Award in the food category for its Marinade on Demand package, which combines marinade and fresh meat or poultry in a single package where they remain in separate pockets until the end-user is ready to marinate and cook.

The Cryovac Marinade on Demand package was among 115 packaging entries in this year’s competition, with 36 packages receiving AmeriStar Awards in 16 different categories. All AmeriStar Award winners were on display on Tuesday, May 18 when the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) hosted the 2010 AmeriStar Awards Presentation at its annual Packaging Summit in Rosemont, Illinois.

The IoPP honors members annually who provide outstanding services to the packaging industry. Entries for this year’s competition were judged based on innovation, superior protection, cost, performance, design and environmental impact.

The Cryovac Marinade on Demand package is a two-part, thermoformed rollstock package that separates fresh protein from a marinade, creating an easy and sanitary marinating process. Keeping the marinade separate from the meat allows the use of functional marinade ingredients such as acids, alcohols and tenderizers that cannot be used in pre-marinated meats because they can affect product texture and flavor over time.

When the end-user is ready to marinate, they squeeze the marinade pocket, breaking the seal between the two pockets. Marinade is transferred to the protein side, beginning the marinating process that lasts as long as the user desires.

The Marinade on Demand package saves processors time and labor over pre-marinated meats, which otherwise may require processors to wash down equipment between different batches of marinade flavors. Instead, processors can easily add the marinade on the packaging station while running the Marinade on Demand package on their current thermoforming machines.

The Marinade on Demand package offers a wide range of benefits for the foodservice industry. The package makes menu expansion possible since a variety of marinades can be used in different packages (opposed to large-batch marination). The package also provides food safety benefits with hands-free marinating, reducing the sanitation concerns and labor associated with restaurant batch marination. Direct contact with raw meat is reduced, and employees no longer spend time cleaning large containers used for restaurant batch marinating.