Food Packaging Trends for the Refrigerator

Abstract: Issue of study: Consumers interact with primary food packaging and the refrigerator on a daily basis, although the interaction and impact food packaging has on the design of refrigerators is not clear. The Swedish home appliances company Electrolux, manufacturer’s refrigerators with the consumer needs in mind. The food packaging market is diversified in terms of formats, dimensions, functions and materials. Thus, anticipating the potential changes might help Electrolux to improve even further. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the primary packaging trends of chilled and frozen foods in order to analyse how they might impact the design and development of future refrigerators. Method: A qualitative research was conducted; primary data was collected with resource to an exploratory method of in-depth semi-structured interviews of packaging professionals and to an online observation of four food categories in Sweden and in the United Kingdom; secondary data was collected by literature research. The methods resulted in inductive and deductive inferencing respectively, therefore in this study, results and discussion lead to an abductive reasoning, with conclusions generated from the collected data. Conclusions: Convenience is one of the most important drivers of packaging changes. Other trends are sustainability, health and safety, although incorporation of technology and package / product personalization are likely to grow in importance. Primary food packaging will likely become more environmental friendly, with the use of bioplastics in detriment of glass in formats such as flexible pouches. The future will potentially have both smaller and bulkier packages, as well as portion control and multipacks. In the next five to ten years, the future of packaging will not likely be focused on the older population, new formats, incorporation of radio frequency identification, edible packaging and nanotechnology. Currently, differences between the English and the Swedish market are noticeable mostly in the type of materials used, formats and number of products available. In the future, the refrigerator development is likely to respond to personalization by exploring a new feature: detachable compartments.