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Healthy Choice launches revamped recipes in new fiber bowl for frozen aisle

ConAgra and fiber bowl supplier, Footprint, worked for three years to overcome numerous obstacles. But top management’s faith in the venture never wavered.

Originally launched in 1989, the Healthy Choice brand offered heart healthy, low-fat, low-salt frozen offerings for the health and fitness consumer.

Not only did Healthy Choice recently revamp or “modernize” their recipes last year to make them more relevant for today’s consumers’ changing palates, they replaced the plastic bowl with a proprietary fiber bowl made from plant-based material that is completely compostable and recyclable.

ConAgra now positions the Powerbowl brand as food with a purpose—good for you and the planet.

More than 640 tons of plastic were eliminated in 2018, all without a single modification to ConAgra’s packaging lines. The fiber bowl is a drop-in replacement for the plastic bowl. Nothing could be changed.

“We had been looking for a plastic alternative in the frozen segment for years,” says David France, Packaging Research Fellow, ConAgra Brands, “but we never saw anything close to the performance we needed.”

France’s remarks came during a presentation at the Smithers-Pira event, “Sustainability in Packaging U.S. 2019,” held in Chicago March 4-6.

France presented alongside Jeff Bassett, VP Marketing for Footprint, maker of the fiber bowls. The journey was not easy, but ConAgra saw the writing on the wall with recent trends in Europe where consumers refuse to microwave, or even eat from, a plastic bowl.

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