"It's the first truly ESL milk in plastic in the U.S.," says director of marketing Bill McCabe.
Topping the bottle is a threaded plastic closure, with drop-down breakaway band, that offers reclosability. The new package is currently on the market in the Midwest in both 16- and 32-oz sizes; an 8-oz size debuts soon.
McCabe isn't saying much about the technology behind the new package. But conversations at Interbev in Dallas and at Pack Expo in Chicago indicate the following:
* A gripper/rinser from Bevco (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada) rinses the bottle interiors with a sanitizing solution.
* A sterile filler from Serac (Addison, IL) fills the bottles.
* Full-body shrink- sleeve labels are supplied by Seal-It (Farmingdale, NY) and applied by equipment from PDC Intl. (S. Norwalk, CT). The polyvinyl chloride labels, process-printed flexographically in eight colors, supplement the opacity of the PET's amber tint, thus keeping out UV light that might harm the milk.
Like other dairies developing non-traditional packaging as a means of making milk more competitive with rival beverages, Smith is targeting on-the-go consumers with its Moovers launch. McCabe sums it up this way: "It's real milk, it tastes real good, it's in a plastic bottle with high-impact graphics, and it has a sixty-day shelf life."
