FFP Packaging Solutions have helped Aunt Bessie's respond to their customers feedback by supplying heat seal lidding films to improve the packaging of their new range of sponge puddings.
Aunt Bessie's is best known as the world's biggest manufacturer of frozen Yorkshire Pudding, but they also make a wide variety of other frozen food products including savoury accompaniments, ready meals and desserts. One of their most recent launches in the desserts category was a range of delicious traditional steamed puddings including Jam Roly Poly, Spotted Dick and Jam Sponge. While the launch was a huge success and consumers loved the desserts, a few letters had been received highlighting that the jam and syrup could sometimes seep into the interior of the carton if the pack started to thaw as it was being transported home.
The suggested answer was to apply a film lid to the pack, but that presented problems. Aunt Bessie's didn't own film sealing equipment at the time, and there was a question mark over the technical feasibility of sealing to the ovenable paperboard pots that contained the puddings once the puddings had been cooked.
FFP Packaging Solutions took a large quantity of the pots away and conducted sealing trials, first to develop and identify a film specification that would seal to the ovenable board trays, and then to prove that the film lid would remain in place through the supply chain.
FFP have recently invested in a new development kitchen at their factory in Northampton, including a sealing machine. They took 1500 sponge puddings, applied the lidding film in the development kitchen and then subjected them to full transit tests.
After the successful completion of the work, Aunt Bessie's invested in sealing machinery to apply a film lid to the oven board tray, secure in the knowledge that FFP had proved that the solution would work, and that the jammy sponge pudding will remain intact until the consumer is ready to cook it!