Wilsons Pet Food is the first pet food company to adopt a new 100% natural plant-fibre packaging material for its frozen product ranges.
The company’s premium and rore ranges of frozen dog food are switching to a new kind of container developed by UK-based KCC Packaging. The material, branded as ‘riji’, is made from plant fibres sprayed with a unique moisture barrier coating making them water-and oil-resistant. The containers have passed food migration and compostability tests, stay rigid at up to 240C in ovens including microwave, and can be recycled as paper or card.
KCC Packaging is reporting considerable interest in the material from both human food and pet food manufacturers, with pet food firms such as Wilsons moving the fastest into production.
Craig Wallace, managing director at Wilson’s Pet Food, said: “We are using riji containers because we really want a natural product that performs and will compost at end of life so there is no plastic contamination issue – riji are the only plant-based trays we could find that perform as we need them to. This includes the ability to seal with bio-film, which is important as it means the whole pack can be 100% natural, recyclable and compostable.”