With the many technological advances and innovations of the twenty first century, today’s consumers expect and demand convenience, especially when it comes to their daily diet.

Energy and raw materials are becoming more expensive, and consumers want to do more for the environment. This is forcing manufacturers of sweets and snacks to make difficult adjustments: their products have to stand out from the crowd without extravagant packages that drive up costs. Packaging producers and machinery manufacturers can help – with material-saving packaging solutions and more efficient production lines.

Online column by veteran LeClairRyan environmental attorney describes ongoing FTC campaign against ‘false and misleading’ environmental claims on product packages and marketing materials.

Innovative packages are the key in the fight against food loss and wastage. More effective barrier layers, germicidal films and freshness indicators are intended to help products to keep for longer and stop consumers’ throwaway mentality. However, despite all these improvements, companies have to keep a constant eye on process efficiency and on costs.

With a growing focus on convenience and sustainability, traditional pack types are being replaced by innovative and flexible options designed to meet these consumer needs.

Product is gravity fed into a feeder that meters grains into an auger/filler for the vertical form-fill-seal machines. From the form-fill-seal machine, filled bags go through a check weigher and metal detector.

Everyone knows that the protein trend has gone beyond the tipping point, but there are many other growth opportunities powering the food and health market, according to 12 Key Trends 2014, the annual industry forecast authored by Julian Mellentin and published by New Nutrition Business

North America is the world's largest consumer of packaging, and is characterised by such packaging giants as International Paper, Tetrapak, Reynolds Group, Ball Corporation and Owens-Illinois. Since a brief dip in 2009, the North American packaging market has recently been growing steadily.

In the past, the main purpose of secondary packaging was to shield the products within from knocks and prevent wasteful loss during transit from the manufacturer to the retailer. However, in the last few years, secondary packaging has been increasingly used by both brands and retailers to attract consumers at the point of sale.

Consumers are continually changing the way they view, interact with and discard packaging. Whether you're a manufacturer or a product marketer, you know how important it is to reflect the changing needs of the consumer in your products.