ROSEMONT, IL - On the heels of US Foods’ launch of the new sustainable product line “Serve Good,” the foodservice giant is also introducing a packaging program to align with the company’s goals of reducing waste across its product line.
With a product spread that includes Cross Valley Farms® Chopped Broccoli Leaves, Cross Valley Farms® Organic Spring Mix, Monarch® Eggless Spread, and Harbor Banks® Barramundi, the company is reducing its impact on the environment one product at a time.
Leading the packaging initiative is Todd Jongen, Director Non-Foods Product Development and Packaging Science, who joined me to talk about this new program and what the company hopes to achieve.
“Serve Good Packaging is designed to address several key consumer concerns and active legislation around packaging materials today. US Foods is eliminating the use of materials like EPS (Styrofoam) and BPA—a controversial additive to some plastics—while also focusing on certified responsible sourcing and end of life scenarios for Serve Good packages,” Todd shared with me.
As we previously reported, the Serve Good line of products offers 21 responsibly sourced items—including produce—that contribute to waste reduction and offers the benefits of versatility and time and labor savings in the kitchen.
While creating this packaging, it was important to Todd and the team to not only provide a more responsible item but also to redesign the packaging of these items to ensure a holistic approach in providing sustainable solutions.
The key messages surrounding the Serve Good line are around “responsible sourcing” and “waste reduction” and are reflected in the packaging requirements that US Foods has adopted.
“The alignment of packaging with the Serve Good product message is important to our company and makes US Foods one of the first foodservice distributor to develop an exclusive private label program of sustainable products oriented to solving key challenges for our customers including product versatility, labor and cost savings and on trend products,” Todd added.
US Foods’ packaging weight reduction program is focused on optimizing packaging by using the least amount of material possible and the Packaging Science team at US Foods does this by partnering with both finished goods suppliers and with the company’s Preferred Packaging Vendors to uncover actionable opportunities to reduce packaging material weight.
An example of this might be the reduction of ‘headspace’ in a corrugated box, Todd suggested, or the elimination of a re-closable zipper on a plastic pouch where it is not needed.
With the discourse around sustainability heating up across the foodservice industry, I can only imagine that this is just the beginning of US Foods’ initiatives to bring more value to their customers and the end consumer.
