Sydney-based contract packaging company MultipackFood is an industry leader when it comes to functional foods and beverages. Kim Berry spoke to commercial director Brad Devine.
With a focus on reliable, affordable, and innovative product development, MultipackFood has been at the forefront of the rise in functional ingredient popularity.
Five years ago, it was approached by Shine+ Drink, then a start-up in the new functional beverage shot category. This month, the company commissioned its fourth iteration shot filling line.
“We are seeing functional ingredients being added to products across a large range of food and beverage categories. What started in protein powders for athletes and the health conscious has spilled over into more everyday consumer categories,” MultipackFood commercial director Brad Devine says.
From beverage shots to instant coffee, Devine says the company has customers working functional ingredients into flours, pancake mixes, cereal, mueslis and more.
“Functional ingredients can be blended into and packaged along with most traditional food products,” he says.
“In some categories, variants are distinguished by the functional benefit on offer, rather than by a more traditional attribute such as flavour. In these cases, the variant is named after the benefit, such as ‘immune’ or ‘digest’, rather than flavours like orange or strawberry.”
Product naming based on its benefit rather than its flavour is most prevalent in the functional beverage shot category.
“This new line has an output capacity close to triple that of our current line, which will effectively increase our current capacity fourfold, supporting customer demands for short lead times of ‘perfectly packaged’ products,” he says.
Features of the new line include a high-speed mono-block unit, in-line bottle inversion/rinsing/sanitising, automated ROPP capping, bottle decoration options (labelling and shrink-sleeving), in-line coding system, and extensive end-of-line retail format packing options.
The new line enhances what MultipackFood can offer, with an in-house water treatment plant (de-ionising, filtering, UVradiating), blending services, pasteurising capability, ambient or hot blending and filling, and cool room storage facilities.
“Having the right blending services, a broad range of packaging format options, and a large capacity for scaling growth is what sets us apart,” he says.
Devine says as the functional food and beverage market matures, clients are looking to proven manufacturers like MultipackFood that have established expertise and experience with sourcing, purchasing, storing, and using functional ingredients.
This story first appeared in the July issue of Food & Drink Business magazine.
