food Marketing - Technology 2/2023

Cover Story
A ‘Fruitful’ Collaboration to Sustainably
Package Healthy Organic Snacks
New High-Barrier Paper Delivers Great
Impact for Wallaroo Foods
One hundred percent product-safe packaging, meeting high consumer expectations in terms of sustainability
and the need for appealing, high-impact design were the challenges Oxfordshire-based Wallaroo Foods
was up against. Sappi, the leading manufacturer of packaging and specialty papers, contributed to an ideal
solution with its Guard Gloss 4-OHG high-barrier paper.
Sustainable through and through
“To encourage young people to make
better food choices by questioning
where their food comes from, what
it is made of and its impact on our
environment,” is Wallaroo Foods’ stated
mission. The producer of organic
tropical fruit snacks creates tasty, fun
food for kids that is healthy, nutritious
and guilt-free.
Since it was established in 2018,
Wallaroo has focused on sustainability
throughout its entire production
process. The company works with
small community producers in Africa to
ensure that their organic fruit is grown
with respect for the environment, and
to guarantee a fair and sustainable
livelihood for growers. Only perfectly
ripe fruit is harvested and moved
directly to a certified drying facility
located right next to the fields. This
ensures that only the freshest fruit
is used and that food waste during
transportation is reduced to a minimum.
The fruit is cut and then dried using
solar power in state-of-the-art drying
facilities. No sugar, salt, preservatives
or sulphites are added and consumers
can enjoy the pure taste of fruit. To keep
the company’s carbon footprint as low
as possible, the dried and packed fruit
is forwarded by ship.
Sustainability in content and
packaging
Wallaroo had been searching for a
packaging solution for its dried fruit
snacks to meet its exceptionally high
standards. This turned out to be
quite a challenge. Wallaroo wanted
Abhisek Kanoi, Co-Founder of Wallaroo
Foods
an affordable recyclable solution
avoiding the use of any synthetic
materials. “It was a difficult process for
us,” says Abhisek Kanoi, Co-Founder of
Wallaroo Foods. “In the UK, there are
no common standards and so many
differences between the many options
After three months of trials, the quality offered by the 91 g/m² grammage proved to be the perfect choice. The pouches demonstrated excellent stability
while filling. Sappi’s Guard Gloss also excelled in terms of barriers and sealing.
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food Marketing & Technology • April 2023