Dual marinade-and-meat pack takes top honors A clean and clever solution for on-site or at-home marinating of meat or poultry, the Marinade-on-Demand™ (MOD) package from Sealed Air Corp.’s Cryovac Food Packaging division found high favor with FPA judges, taking home the Highest Achievement Award and a Gold for Technical Innovation. The two-part, thermoformed rollstock package, which holds meat in one section and marinade in the other, was launched in 2007 and made commercial by the Chicago Meat Exchange for Schwan’s Home Service of Marshall, MN, in 2009.
Using the MOD package for foodservice or retail, the marinating process is simple, Cryovac relates. When the consumer or food operator is ready to marinate the fresh meat, they squeeze the marinade pocket, breaking the seal between the two sections of the package. The marinade is then transferred to the meat side, beginning the marinating process, which can last as long as the user desires.
The MOD package size can vary, but the structure is generally designed to accommodate products weighing 2.5 lb or less, and measuring up to 2 in. deep. Rollstock is constructed of coextruded high-barrier nonforming and thermoforming materials, with easy-open properties, relates Cryovac’s marketing director of Fresh Red Meat, Walker Stockley, who adds that the film structure is proprietary.
The MOD pack is designed to offer advantages not only to the foodservice and retail consumer, but also to the processor and retailer. For processors, the new package technology can save time and labor over pre-marinated meats, which may require them to wash down equipment between different batches of marinade flavors. With the MOD package, processors can easily add the marinade on the packaging station, Cryovac says. Additionally, processors can run the MOD package on their current thermoforming machines.
Along with their consumers, retailers can benefit from the MOD pack’s convenience features, which include no-mess preparation or cleanup, knifeless opening, leak-proof packaging, flexible portion sizes, extended shelf life, and restaurant-quality products in a variety of marinade choices.
For the foodservice industry, 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. The MOD package also provides food-safety benefits with hands-free marinating, reducing the sanitation concerns and labor associated with restaurant batch marinating.
Currently, Schwan’s Home Delivery is stocking two product options in the MOD package: Chimichurri Beef and Herb and Garlic Pork Filet. Says Chicago Meat Authority vice president of Business Development Chris Marriott, “This has been a great partnership effort in the development of a new and innovative product line that addresses industry concerns and truly meets the needs of the marketplace on so many fronts.”
