TORONTO — Just blocks away from the raucous Blue Jays game in the Rogers Centre, the 2023 CPMA Convention and Trade Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre brought its A-game this April, uniting the breadth of the fresh produce industry under one roof for two days of education and relationship building.
Rod Baeini, general manager and vice president of sales at custom labeling company Acculabel, was excited to unveil its new compostable paper PLU label to fresh fruit and vegetable producers at this year’s CPMA show.
“We finally received the recycling and compostable status certified and approved after three years,” Baeini said. “And there are no changes needed to the equipment to switch over to paper PLU labels.”
The best thing about the sticker, in addition to being affordable, is that it doesn’t get stuck in the drain. The compostable paper breaks down and is affixed with a natural rubber adhesive that can be formulated for a specific produce product, Baeini said.
Taylor Farms brought the produce aisle to its booth this April. Reinforcing the trend of all-in-one meal bags and produce snacking products, Taylor Farms showcased its persona-size mini chopped salad kits.
“We want to get people eating salad as snacks,” Cristina Di Lelsi told The Packer. “Most people can finish the mini bag by themselves.”
Shoppers often buy traditional bagged salads, make a big salad for lunch and leave the rest of the salad in the fridge to go stale, Di Lelsi said. “This new single-serving bag helps limit food waste.”
Plus, she added, the new Nashville Hot and Pizza Ranch mini chopped salad kit flavors are crowd favorites.
In addition to the earthy, warm smells of sauteed mushrooms inviting trade show attendees to its booth, the team at Highline Mushrooms was also touting its new clear plastic mushroom packaging.
Mucci Farms also came to CPMA with sustainable packaging on the mind. The grower was not limiting itself to showcasing just one packaging innovation concept, but was instead piloting several sustainable packaging options for its varied portfolio of greenhouse-grown fruit and vegetables products.
From compostable plastic for cucumbers to a mesh plastic and recycled paper top options for tomatoes, the grower is trialing several options to gain insight into which trends have staying power.
“At Mucci Farms, we commit a great deal of resources to R&D to provide our retail partners with innovative solutions to major challenges, including sustainability. It’s a primary focus for us,” Ken Paglione, sales account manager for Mucci Farms, told The Packer.
Hailing from South America, Paola Francia of Ipoki Produce LLC brought fair trade organic ginger from Peru to CPMA 2023.
