One way to keep up with the trends is to take note of the new products featured at conferences.
One such showcase winner at the April 12-16 Canadian Produce Marketing Association virtual convention and trade show was a new product created by Kingsville, Ontario-based Mucci Farms: the Naked Leaf Living Basil Sleeve.
Catherine Clark, president of Catherine Clark Communications Inc., hosted with presenter Vanessa Peters, publisher of Canadian Grocer at EnsembleIQ, for the announcement of this year’s New Product Showcase Award winners.
The event featured 56 products from 42 companies. A panel of industry judges selected the winners.
Mucci’s Naked Leaf sleeve reduces plastic by 50% by converting half of the package to paper. “There’s a worldwide effort to be more environmentally friendly, and we knew this package checked all of the boxes,” Fernanda Albuquerque, packaging development manager, said in a news release.
The sleeve can be taken apart so that consumers can place the plastic in their plastic recycling bins and the paper can go in the paper bins. The exterior pot is reusable or recyclable, and the interior growing pot is 100% compostable.
“Not only is the package sustainable, but the product is unique as it’s living basil that comes with the root intact, which allows you to water it as you would a plant and pick leaves as you go,” Emily Murracas, director of marketing, said in the release.
The winners were on top of trends in snacking, sustainability and technology, Clark said.
Mucci’s Packaging Innovation Award was one of five New Product Showcase Award categories. The other winners were:
- Best New Product: The Star Group’s Inspired Salads;
- Best Organic Product: Earth Fresh Organic golden, red and russet potatoes;
- Best New Technology: UNITEC Canada Fruit and Vegetables Technology Inc. Cherry Vision 3.0; and
- Best Snackable Product: LOOP Mission probiotic sodas.
John Anderson, chairman, CEO and managing partner of The Oppenheimer Group, Vancouver, British Columbia, won the CPMA 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award and was scheduled to talk on the final day of the conference.
