StarKist is counting on packaging to attract consumer attention and help make this fledgling fish product fly.

"StarKist has been exploring frozen concepts and products in various forms for a number of years as a way of extending and leveraging the brand's equity" says Laura Wolfram communications administrator for StarKist Seafood Co. "The Seaside Gourmet packaging was tested with consumers and selected from over a dozen designs because it presented the product with an upscale fresh appearance versus the paper boxes frequently used to package frozen fish." Package design is the work of Lipson-Alport-Glass & Associates (Cincinnati OH).

The 16-oz portion of uncooked fish is first vacuum-packed. The forming web is an 8-mil linear low-density polyethylene/nylon structure. Lidding is similar but thinner at 5 mils. Both films are supplied by Curwood (New London WI).

Vacuum-packed fillets next go into a charcoal-gray tray of foamed expanded polystyrene and are shrink-wrapped in a 74-ga D-955 film from Cryovac (Duncan SC). After the heat tunnel operators apply a paperboard sleeve by hand. Brightly printed in six colors on an offset press the 16-pt SBS sleeve is supplied by Field Container (Elk Grove Village IL).

StarKist Seaside Gourmet sells for $5.99 to $6.99 and is currently being tested in Pittsburgh San Antonio and Buffalo NY.