Tetra Pak launches world first microwavable aseptic package

Tetra Pak today announced the world’s first microwavable aseptic package aimed at the growing market in prepared sauces for both retail distribution and food services. It is the ideal solution for today’s time-pressed consumers looking for increasingly high quality, quickly made meals. The Tetra Wedge Aseptic (TWA) microwavable 200 S, with its distinctive shape and packaging material, is the most robust and easy-to-handle packaging solution for sweet and savoury sauces, according to independent consumer research.

Compared to stand-up plastic pouches (SUP), a common packaging for ready-made sauces, consumers tested found the TWA mw 200 S easier to handle and pour from as well as more robust and secure. Other favourable benefits over plastic included better flavour and taste and the even heating thanks to its shape. This avoids overheating and a hot-to-handle package. Simple to open and heat, the TWA mw 200 S package is placed directly in a microwave oven after full opening and takes only a minute or two to heat, depending on the product and microwave power. It reduces overall preparation, cooking and clean-up time.

Its stability makes it convenient to pour from, thus allowing a greater degree of portion control and less food wastage. It’s lightweight and easy to store. The innovative packaging material from Tetra Pak, using polyethylene terephtalic silicon oxide (PET SiOx) as oxygen barrier, ensures product safety and integrity as well as its original flavour, colour and texture for six months without the need for refrigeration or preservatives. The TWA mw 200 S also can be used for smooth soups and broths.

Said Christophe Devaux, R&D Project manager at Valrhona, the French gourmet chocolate-maker: "The Tetra Wedge Aseptic microwaveable 200 S protects the flavour and quality of our newly launched premium chocolate sauce. "It allows us to propose a ready-to-use package, and the microwaveable heating capacity and shape represent an added value to our customers, particularly for pastry cooks in restaurants. It's a time- saver, with no tools required to pour the sauce.

"With this package, Tetra Pak is enabling us enter the market for gourmet ready made dessert sauces," said Devaux. Valrhona’s Sauce au Chocolat packaged in the new TWA mw 200 S from Tetra Pak won this year’s "Innovative Product of the Year" award at France’s international food exhibit, the Salon International de l’Alimentation" (SIAL - Confectionary product, biscuits and pastry section). Valrhona, with the support of Tetra Pak France, was one of several European food manufacturers that have successfully field-tested the TWA mw 200 S over the past 14 months.

Other customers field-testing the TWA mw 200 S include Puljonki of Finland with a number or sweet and savoury sauces and Bakemark of Germany with dessert toppings. The TWA mw 200 S is manufactured on a filling machine from Tetra Pak, the TBA/19 filling machine, which has been specially designed with ultrasonic transversal sealing for the innovative packaging material used in this product. Used exclusively for the TWA mw 200 S, it has a capacity of 6,000 packages/hour. The TBA/19 010V will be available in a controlled rollout in North America and Western Europe starting in March 2005.