Salmon jerky pack serves Iraq and Afghanistan

But a specially targeted demographic is American troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The packages are highly portable, and enable the jerky to endure hot climates for approximately eight months without flavor deterioration or spoilage. Alaska Spirit donated the wild salmon jerky product, and the local Lions Club compiled the names of troops from Kodiak and shipped the packages to military service members.

As Alaska Spirit co-owner Rob Baer explains, “After learning that our local military men and women stationed overseas were requesting more protein sources, our company and the Kodiak Lion’s Club joined forces to help out. Our Kodiak SOLSTIX salmon jerky will fill the need for protein and give the troops a little taste of home. With military distribution in mind, we are continuing to develop means and methods to extend the shelf life without using artificial additives or preservatives.”

The rollstock film, supplied by Curwood Inc., a Bemis Company (www.curwood.com), is constructed of a 3.5-mil polyester/nylon/EVOH/polyethylene bottom (forming) layer and a five-color flexographically printed, 3-mil (48-ga) OPET/ink/adhesive/EVOH/EVA top layer.

In 2005, Alaska Spirit secured funding from the Alaska Fisheries Economic Development (AFED) Grant Program that helped the company purchase a used M-860 EPC rollstock form/fill/seal packaging machine manufactured by Multivac, Inc. (www.multivac.com). Alaska Spirit co-founders Rob Baer and Mark Witteveen (both fishery research biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game) then hired a Multivac equipment specialist to inspect the machine and undertake the necessary modifications, including installation of new dies, to meet the salmon jerky packaging specifications.

Baer says, “In addition to the AFED grant, we were also successful in obtaining a grant from the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board. The grant was made to help us package and market high-quality Alaska wild salmon snacks. It also supported our direct mail marketing effort in which we use clear plastic 2-inch x 12-inch ‘tubevelopes’ with red end caps.” This clear tube mail packaging is supplied by Visipak, a division of Sinclair & Rush, Inc. (www.sinclair-rush.com).