Pepper’s Protective Packaging Doesn’t Deserve a #PackagingFail

HelloFresh keeps its ingredients, you know, fresh with proven packaging technology. But fails to explain this to customers and gets slapped on Twitter.

Lisa McTigue Pierce, Executive Editor

June 11, 2021

1 Min Read
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Photo credit: @samanthabayers - Twitter

A packaging professional will recognize and appreciate the pattern of holes in the plastic wrap of this yellow bell pepper. The perforations are a relatively simple form of modified atmosphere packaging, allowing the gases generated by the ripening of the pepper to escape, which slows down the inevitable product decomposition. Ta da! Shelf life is extended!

When quality matters, as is the case with ingredients in a HelloFresh meal kit, the extra days of freshness can mean a difference between a satisfied customer or a never-again ex-customer.

The packaging engineers at HelloFresh obviously know this. Good. But their customers probably don’t. And that led to this critical tweet.

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On the HelloFresh homepage, the company touts, “Less food waste = greener footprint.” And explains that “… our meal kits lead to less food waste because we send perfectly portioned ingredients in every box…”

If the “Less food waste” message is important enough to highlight on the homepage, maybe this leading meal kit provider should also educate its customers about how packaging prevents food waste by keeping the ingredients fresh for longer, too.

How would you recommend it does that? Click “Comments” to share your thoughts.

About the Author

Lisa McTigue Pierce

Executive Editor, Packaging Digest

Lisa McTigue Pierce is Executive Editor of Packaging Digest. She’s been a packaging media journalist since 1982 and tracks emerging trends, new technologies, and best practices across a spectrum of markets for the publication’s global community. Reach her at [email protected] or 630-272-1774.

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