Vinegars veer from glass to PET

Rising resin costs don’t deter plans to please customers by making a switch from glass to plasic. ‘We may extend PET usage for some other products in our line.’

The new PET vinegar bottles are light, shatter-proof, and consumer-appealing.
The new PET vinegar bottles are light, shatter-proof, and consumer-appealing.

Mizkan Americas, Inc. (formerly Nakano Foods), headquartered in Mount Prospect, IL, is the largest private-label producer of vinegars in the U.S. The company, which also produces cooking wines, mustards, Asian sauces, dressings, and other specialty cooking condiments, has traditionally packaged all of its products in glass bottles. But in a move to offer its customers packaging with enhanced convenience, Mizkan made the decision to convert its 16-oz and 32-oz white distilled, apple cider, and red wine vinegars to lighter, shatter-resistant PET bottles.

Despite the recent rises in plastic resin costs, Mizkan believes the conversion is a good packaging strategy with excellent payback potential. Dennis Dedmond, vice president of marketing, notes: “Resin prices are cyclical. They fluctuate over time. We see the switch to PET as a long-term investment that will reap good payback because consumers and retailers like the lighter, unbreakable bottles. Freight costs also are lower versus glass bottles.”

Penny Philp, Mizkan’s national director of procurement, adds: “Glass bottle availability sometimes is limited. Procuring needed inventories can be a hit-or-miss proposition.”

Mizkan chose to use custom PET bottles with pressure-base design sourced from Grafco PET Packaging Technologies and Liquid Container/Plaxicon.

In a multi-year research and development effort, Grafco was instrumental in helping Mizkan create and implement the custom containers. The bottles have no special coatings and are not made of heat-set PET. Mizkan warm-fills its vinegar products at a temperature range that does not require heat-set bottles.

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