Elliott Absorbent Products has launched a new meat pad that adsorbs odours and significantly reduces food waste by vastly reducing product returns from shoppers concerned that their food has gone off.
The new UniDry AD pads use an innovative carbon layer that adsorbs the aromatics emitted as meat ages and which mean it can fail the ‘sniff test’ when opened, resulting in perfectly good food being thrown away or returned to supermarkets for a refund.
Annually, UK households waste approximately 6.4 million tonnes of edible food which is 16% of all the food purchased. Globally, food waste is responsible for at least 8% of greenhouse gas emissions.
The new pads currently come in a range of sizes from 80mm x 100mm to 300mm x 600mm and are ideal for fish and the long shelf-life of meat products such as large seasonal roasting joints or 30-day aged steaks. Elliott says the pads utilise a proprietary core that gives tremendous blood and water absorption, with a range between 5,000 ml to 26,000 ml per square metre and are compliant with 11/2011 EU regulation and FDA approval.
Tests with meat processing specialist Hilton Foods have shown that not only are the pads effective in reducing odours they have also reduced customer complaints and product returns by 70%.
Neil Huggins, technical account manager at Hilton Foods said: “We ran two trials with the Elliott pads on seasonal products over the Christmas period and found they significantly reduced customer returns according to data supplied from our customers.
“Odour associated with any aged steak or joint products has been a long-standing problem. On specialist short run seasonal products and this can be a big issue leading to products potentially being delisted. The odour issue is complicated by the fact that some people are more sensitive to smells than others. These new pads have been really helpful in reducing odours and ensuring more customers are happy when they open the pack.”
The UniDry AD pads are an extension of the market-leading UniDry range of ultra-thin, super absorbent sealed edge pads. Launched in 2020 they have been widely adopted by fresh meat and fish processors.
Matt Hankins, managing director of Elliott Absorbent Products said: “UniDry AD is a major innovation in odour reduction and food waste avoidance. Red meat production is very carbon intensive and so it is important to ensure it reaches consumers in the best possible condition so they can enjoy it and carbon emissions associated with wasting such products are avoided.
“These results with Hilton Foods are outstanding. We have already had lots of interest from UK meat processors and supermarkets. We aim to expand our customer base across Europe and beyond where there is a huge untapped market.”
UniDry AD is available in both pads and reels, black as standard with other colours upon request. The range has full EU migration conformance and is manufactured at Elliott’s state-of-the-art facility in the UK.
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