The steady rise of the shelf-stable market

In addition to timeless factors such as those mentioned above, today's food and beverage suppliers need to take into account increasing demand for increasingly popular ingredients, like mushrooms. They should also consider trends such as a greater desire among consumers to cook at home, with people looking for a wider selection of shelf-stable products to experiment with. Experts are also seeing a noticeable shift towards natural preservatives like rosemary extract, as well as growing popularity for niche segments including liquid meals.

In terms of convenience, such products are also increasingly designed to fit around the way people live, with on-the-go lifestyles and a desire to make home cooking a quicker, smoother process all playing a role. Another key factor is health and wellness, with shelf-stable packaging making it possible for products to retain their nutritional and sensory qualities without the need for artificial preservatives.

In essence, today’s manufacturers require more from their packaging – with aseptic carton packs and spouted pouches offering them the flexibility they need. “The primary factor driving sales of ambient food is convenience. Convenience for consumers, retailers, and the entire supply chain. However, the trend towards health awareness, inflation, and growing competition necessitates continuous innovation with a focus on providing more value for the same price,” states Tamara Dzalaeva, Category Manager Europe

“As the world’s only supplier to provide aseptic carton packs, spouted pouches and bag-in-box, SIG produces packaging solutions that help manufacturers expand their portfolios, improve their current offerings, and meet consumer demand.”

Top-performing segments within the aseptic food market
Which shelf-stable products are most popular with consumers and what opportunities does this offer for food and beverage manufacturers and suppliers?
When it comes to shelf-stable food products, today’s consumers have an increasingly wide range of segments to choose from: be it processed tomato products, soups and sauces, fruits and vegetables, fruit purees, dairy and non-dairy, and a host of niche, growing segments that include liquid meals and broths.

How does each segment rank among consumers, what opportunities does this offer manufacturers, and what challenges must they overcome to deliver what the market wants and needs?

Shelf-stable products: a breakdown
When thinking about shelf-stable products, one of the first – and most popular – segments that comes to mind is tomato-based products, with options including chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, ready-made sauces for cooking, condiments like ketchup, and so on.

Soup is another segment that has long been available in shelf-stable form, with a report from Nielsen indicating that as far back as 2007, aseptic soups were the fastest-growing category of soups. Shelf-stable soups have continued growing in popularity, in part spurred on by the COVID pandemic, and in part due to increased demand for convenient, ready-to-eat products across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa.

According to Tamara Dzalaeva, SIG Category Manager Europe, “Food categories are growing more complex and will remain relevant to development of the aseptic food market. Part of this growth can also be related to the increase in packaging variety available to consumers, with even conservative categories going through a shift.”

The aseptic challenge
For manufacturers, the challenge with getting shelf-stable right is in finding the balance between innovative packaging and adding value to their business. “Consumers are unwilling to compromise on naturalness, taste, sustainability or convenience but struggle to pay extra for this, putting significant pressure on manufacturers and retailers to justify their prices and manage their costs,” says Tamara Dzalaeva.
“At SIG, innovative, versatile aseptic carton packs and spouted pouches can help customers add more value to their shelf-stable products without the resulting cost impact: allowing manufacturers to fill products quickly and safely while building more sustainable processes – among other attributes. Today’s shelf-stable food products are also, by nature, futureproof, given their packaging is designed to meet increasingly strict regulations regarding food safety.”

The role of shelf-stable foods within sustainability
From the packaging itself to the way food products are filled, what makes aseptic packaging the more responsible choice?

Shelf-stable food products offer manufacturers and consumers a host of benefits, not least because they require zero artificial additives to stay fresh and safe for consumption. Thanks to the sterilization process involved in aseptic packaging, food products are protected against contamination, allowing manufacturers to use only natural ingredients – in turn, helping them meet consumer demand for health and wellness. 

Furthermore, with regulations constantly being updated to cover the emergence of new segments – including 3D-printed food – manufacturers have to keep up with their competition without sacrificing their efforts to be more responsible.  

As such, experts have started to see a shift towards sustainable, natural additives including beetroot juice, which can be used as a food colouring, as well as more focus on production of fermented food products.

How shelf-stable is sustainable
That aseptic food products require no artificial additives is only one of many benefits shelf-stable products bring to the table:
Less food waste
Perhaps one of the most significant benefits offered by the shelf-stable segment is a vast reduction in food waste – with regards to production, transportation and when a product has reached the end user. For example, looking at global food production alone, about 30% of ingredients/products are lost or wasted at some point in the supply chain.

With aseptic packaging, manufacturers can safely store excess raw materials for later use and better protect goods during transportation. Take industrial bag-in-box packaging, which is designed to help manufacturers extend the shelf-life of fresh fruit and vegetable products far past harvesting season – without the need for preservatives or refrigeration, and all while retaining the flavours, colors and nutrients of each ingredient. As well as helping manufacturers use fewer raw materials, this helps save on energy use, creating an overall more optimal process.

More efficient consumption
The benefits of shelf-stable packaging continue to present once a product reaches the consumer. Consumers want to live more responsibly, and with an array of shelf-stable packaging options and sizes to choose from, everyone from a single-person household to a large family can buy what they want – while finding it easier to use products before they go off. Further to this point, a recent report by Kerry found that one third of people surveyed said they would be willing to switch to shelf-stable products, listing a desire to reduce food waste and environmental concerns among their reasons why. 
In addition, and based on EU-wide regulations, all aseptic packaging must be made recyclable or refillable by 2030, making the aseptic process even more sustainable.

Finding the right format
Whether you are in the market for stables like tomato puree and soups and sauces, or emerging segments like liquid meals and broths, today’s aseptic packaging includes carton packs, spouted pouch offerings, and bag-in-box. As the world’s only supplier of all three packaging formats, SIG knows how to cater to its customer’s demands. Whether they need packaging for small, independent cafes, large and busy QSRs, or grocery shelves – with some formats showing considerable gain over others.

“Cartons and spouted pouches are designed to meet the expectations of modern consumers. They are lightweight, have an ergonomic shape, and are easier to store, open, and dispose of. They also have a significantly lower carbon footprint * than metal and glass containers for shelf-stable food,” Tamara Dzalaeva, SIG, Category Manager Europe points. 

Faced with the challenges that hinder the expansion of the shelf-stable product market, the industry must learn to offer more value to consumers without increasing the price of products. This puts enormous pressure on manufacturers and retailers who are trying to offer more to consumers at the same price while managing their own costs.

Among the disadvantages that mark the difference between traditional and aseptic packaging, it is mainly worth noting that traditional packaging involves hot filling or retort filling, which consumes a lot of energy and requires the product to be exposed to high temperatures for a long time. In addition to the disadvantages related to production costs, this has a significant effect on the flavor, color, and nutritional value of some products.
Aseptic technology, the technology behind aseptic carton packaging and spouted pouches, allows heating time to be reduced to just seconds or minutes, minimizing the impact on taste and freshness. At the same time, it helps us ensure food safety and product stability (in terms of long shelf life) under ambient conditions.
“The most popular and growing segments include most processed tomato products, soups and broths, cooking and table sauces, and fruit purees. Our aseptic carton and spouted pouches in particular are a preferred option for these”, explains Tamara Dzalaeva.

In essence, aseptic technology is more advanced. It is more efficient, reduces the consumption of various resources, has a lower waste rate and comes with an overall lower carbon footprint *.
For all the reasons mentioned, SIG experts predict that aseptic will increase its share in various liquid food categories where this technology is applicable. "At SIG, we have the most advanced aseptic filling technologies on the market. They allow manufacturers to fill high viscosity products (up to 5,000 mPas) and products with pieces/particles up to 40 mm long. Overall, we really see the growth potential of aseptic in terms of technical scope and entry into new food segments."

Some complementary data
* For a wide range of food and beverages. Based on independent, critically reviewed life-cycle assessments for beverage cartons conducted in line with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards and including the preliminary results of SIG’s life-cycle analysis of bag-in-box and spouted pouch solutions. Please note, an independent, critically reviewed life-cycle assessment for these solutions is in progress.   

Read more about the entire series in the exclusive report here.

 Watch the interview as SIG’s expert Tamara Dzalaeva, Category Manager for Europe, offers her thoughts on the shelf-stable market: what are the most exciting segments within the shelf-stable market, what hurdles do manufacturers need to overcome, and what’s next for both industry and consumer?

Sources: sig.biz, globalcause.co.uk, packagingstrategies.com, medium.com, packaging-gateway.com, openknowledge.fao.org, retailtimes.co.uk