Market-Leading Odour-Absorbent Meat Pads Can Cut Returns Significantly

SIRANE’S odour-absorbent meat pads offer the most effective solution on the market – and the market is growing fast, as retailers globally look to cut down on their returns.

Our Dri-Fresh Fresh-Hold OA odour-absorbent meat pads have been proven to reduce returns in vac-packed meat/poultry where confinement odour is a problem.

Simon Balderson, Sirane MD, said: “We know other companies on the market are trying to produce similar technologies, but customers keep coming back to us. They do so because ours work – they offer effective absorbency combined with effective odour absorbency.

“And very soon we will be able to offer the complete solution – an absorbent and odour absorbent meat pad which has anti-bacterial properties – the ultimate pad. This will be perfect for poultry, for example, where bacteria can be a real problem.”

Dri-Fresh Fresh-Hold OA pads are suitable for packaging many meats, including lamb, pork, gammon, beef & poultry. The pads combine standard absorbency with odour absorbency, and stop customers wrongly believing food is off due to unpleasant smells.

This food is often returned to the store, and can cost the industry millions of pounds a year.

Trials on the pad showed a substantial 9% drop in vac-packed meat being returned by consumers to one leading UK supermarket when it was used to pack lamb.

Jeremy Haydn-Davies, sales director, said: “Returns are a significant issue for vacuum-packed meats such as beef, poultry, lamb, gammon and pork – as unpleasant odours can cause customers to wrongly think food is off when in fact the food is absolutely fine.

“However, tests on Dri-Fresh Fresh-Hold OA pads show the product has alleviated the problem. The odour-absorbent pads absorb vapours and odours – even when saturated in blood and juices – making the product much more attractive to the consumer.

“It’s a great product, and one that is making a real difference to companies across the world. The anti-bacterial pad has been trialled very successfully – and will be just as popular.”

Simon Balderson, Sirane’s managing director, said: “Although vacuum packaging is an effective way to provide shelf life at low cost, the odour released from the pack when it is opened has proven to be a major obstacle to its acceptance in the market.

“The odour, known as ‘confinement odour’, is sometimes compared to that of sour milk or cheese. On occasions, particularly for meat with higher pH, the odour can be sulphurous.

“Confinement odour is caused by natural bacterial activity in the pack and it disperses fairly quickly after the pack is opened – and there is nothing to be concerned about.

“Although the odour does not indicate that the meat is unsuitable for consumption, consumers are understandably alarmed and often return the product to the retailer.

“The Sirane Dri-Fresh Fresh-Hold OA active absorbent pad removes the volatiles responsible for confinement odour from the package atmosphere – so returns drop substantially.

”We’re not surprised the product is proving so popular around the world – no-one wants perfectly good meat to be thrown away, particularly when it is easily avoidable.”

Across the industry it is estimated 8% of all vac-packed meat is returned to the store. However, trials with major retailers and a large meat packer showed a 9% reduction on this figure – a reduction that led to a significant financial saving for the stores.

The Dri-Fresh Fresh-Hold OA products are also ideal for MAP and skin packaging and are manufactured under BRC and ISO9001 conditions at Sirane’s Telford premises.

Dri-Fresh Fresh-Hold products are also available for seafood, wet cheeses and for fruits. A label version is available for packaging where only odour absorbency is needed.

And odour-absorption can be needed by companies selling a wide variety of products – the odour absorbent pad developed by Sirane, for example, also enabled a unique snack egg to be brought into the food-to-go market without any off-putting smells.

The Original Egg Company, a new niche brand under the Stonegate family, launched the Snack Egg – a single portion shelled hard-boiled egg to be sold in a retail pack.

Jeremy Haydn-Davies, Sirane sales director, said: “This was the first time this patch has been used for eggs and meant that once opened the Snack Egg smells just as you would expect of a freshly boiled egg. The patch absorbs all confinement odours, meaning when the customer opens the pack it smells as fresh as the moment it was packed.

“The patch could have numerous other uses – it could be used in egg sandwich packs for example, which could be good news for cramped offices all around the UK.”

Sirane is an innovative packaging design, development, manufacture and solutions company which specialises in areas including absorbency and ovenable/microwaveable products, compostable packaging, films, boards, absorbent pads, and much more.