Case Histories
British Meat Processor ABP and Leading Retailer Sainsbury's Team Up With Cryovac to Supply Premium Succulent Beef to Consumers
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Anglo Beef Processors (ABP) is the UK's leading meat processor, producing a range of
fresh beef in shelf ready packs. Recognizing that consumer lifestyles have radically
changed in recent times and that convenience is in increasing demand, ABP focuses on
developing new products and packaging designed to meet the needs and demands of
today's consumers. Whether it's a traditional family Sunday roast or a Sirloin Steak, ABP
is developing new products with the finest ingredients to add value, choice and
convenience.
ABP is one of two beef processors supplying the leading UK retail
chain Sainsbury's. The ABP plant at Ellesmere in Shropshire,
North of England, specialises in beef production. The site includes
a slaughter house, a boning hall and retail room. Typically
producing 600,000 retail packs per week, this plant is almost
exclusively dedicated to supplying Sainsbury's.
In July 2003, aiming to develop premium quality consumer products, ABP and
Sainsbury's launched a new range of meat consumer packs under the high quality
"Taste the Difference™" range. They partnered with a British TV celebrity chef and
called on food packaging specialist Cryovac
to develop the product concept and
packaging.
The Solution
The idea from the start was to offer consumers with a new range of exceptionally tender,
traditionally matured British beef. Together, the project partners - processor, packer, chef
and retailer - joined forces, expertise and know-how to develop a process based on quality
meat selection, followed by maturation during at least 21 days and premium packaging to
ensure utmost freshness and shelf-life. The new range is a direct result of several years of
work and ABP's ability to replicate maturation methods on a mass scale.
The new range available at retail includes a wide choice of premium steaks (fillets, Sirloin,
Rib-eye, minute), joints (rib, silverside or topside roasting), as well as counter-serve steaks
and joints. The brief to Cryovac called for a secure, high quality, printable, differentiated
packaging that would meet the requirements of this wide product range, operate on high
speed lines, while offering a fresh and traditional image, as well as acting as
communication carrier. The result was a combination of
an inner and outer packaging, to ensure all criteria would
be met.
For beef steaks, Cryovac Darfresh® vacuum skin
packaging was chosen for its premium effect, superior
security and seal integrity. Its "second skin" effect truly
respects the product's natural shape and contour, while
providing a consumer pack of prolonged shelf life.
For beef joints, the
Cryovac® BB4L plain shrink barrier bag is combined with
the Cryovac® U-BRT tray. Cryovac barrier bags also
ensure extended shelf life and preserve the meat's
organoleptic qualities.
In both cases, secure packs provide highest quality
preservation and shelf life. For communications purposes, an outer packaging consisting of
Cryovac® EOD laminate pouches printable in nine colors offered an ideal solution. For
distribution and retail display, the packs are placed in clear PVC straight-on trays. Cryovac
was thus able to deliver a complete solution, including Darfresh or barrier bag inner
packaging, a laminate pouch for the outer packaging and the special trays for display.
For counter-serve items, the Cryovac® BB325 barrier bag is used to pack larger beef joints
which in-store butchers cut on request. This provides the retailer with the ultimate
flexibility, allowing easy adjustments to swings in demand.
The Results
The new product range has been very well received by consumers, increasingly attracted
by novelty, variety, convenience and quality meals. The benefits of the new packs go
beyond increased product quality, security and shelf life. Their overall effect is one of top
quality and enhanced consumer communication. The packs are highly innovative and offer
unprecedented differentiation on the display shelves, with an attractive and very appealing
design. They offer plenty of space for product information, consumer tips and recipes, as
well as high image branding. "We fully acknowledge the input by Cryovac in helping to
make this project a success", said Andrew Cracknell, General Manager, ABP Ellesemere.
The greatest strength of this new range, however, is that it offers consumers with fresh
and traditionally matured British beef. The positive effect of meat maturation in vacuum
packaging on the tenderness and eating quality of the beef is not new. Cryovac has
been promoting this concept for many years. With this new range of premium steaks
and joints, consumers are now becoming aware of what tender and succulent meat
really means. They are quickly buying into the concept that quality meat cuts packed
under vacuum provide superior tenderness and eating quality.
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