From Lab to Table: Scaling Safe Reusable Packaging for Fresh Meat Applications
21st November 2025
In the push toward a circular economy and more sustainable packaging systems, the shift from single-use to reuse is paramount. Implementing reuse at scale, especially in food-contact environments poses significant technical, logistical, safety, and economic challenges.
As part of the EU Funded BUDDIE-PACK project, the Applied Packaging Platform Team at TUS, led by Dr Romina Pezzoli, set out to address these challenges by developing a thermoformed, thermosealed tray that is safe, reusable, and recyclable.
The goal was to design a food-contact tray that could compete with single-use alternatives in cost, safety, durability, and recyclability. After several cycles of design, material resistance and food contact testing they achieved a solution that is currently under commercial trials at Dawn Meats.
Throughout the process they demonstrated:
- The trays passed 15 reuse cycles of washing, resealing and scratching without structural failure.
- Airtightness and leak resistance remained consistently within acceptable limits after repeated use, demonstrating long-term integrity.
- Material degradation such as embrittlement, discoloration was minimal over the tested cycles.
- The trays are successfully compatible with standard industrial dishwashing / sanitation protocols
