The food industry is searching intensively for ways to develop more sustainable packaging while building strong leading brands. Packaging plays a key role in the consumer experience, preserving the safety and quality of the food, as well as delivering convenience. Packaging also helps to attract consumers on the shelves and ensures the product stays in good shape until consumption. When it comes to selecting the raw materials used to produce this packaging, market players are increasingly concerned about finding partners that help them to develop innovative and more sustainable solutions.

Food trays and baking molds made from Genuine Vegetable parchment are biodegradable and home compostable.

Brands have an ambitious agenda regarding sustainability. Developing sustainable packaging will help to achieve the goals set out in visionary roadmaps for a brighter future.

As a leading producer of fiber-based materials, Ahlstrom-Munksjö works closely with all actors across the food packaging value chain to develop fiber-based solutions that address their current and future challenges, whether big or small. These challenges include the delivery of special barrier papers or finding new alternatives to non-renewable packaging.

Today, Ahlstrom-Munksjö offers the widest range of fiber-based solutions for flexible packaging. The company supports the food industry with specialty papers for a wide variety of end applications used in everyday life. Its solutions are used for candy wrappers, pet food bags, fresh or dry food packaging as well as baking papers or wrappers for greasy food products.

Regulations and requirements from the market are getting more and more demanding when it comes to consumer safety, direct food contact and sustainability. Being innovative in terms of sustainability is also about providing the right barrier so products can reach the necessary shelf life, or the appropriate level of protection against grease, moisture or oxygen.

More recently, advances have also been made to maximize consumer safety with the development of paper solutions preventing mineral-oil migration into food. Ahlstrom-Munksjö has developed Gerstar Mo, a one-sided coated paper that provides an excellent MOSH-MOAH* barrier for primary packaging. It also prevents cross-contamination from mineral oils that could come from secondary packaging or transport.

This new paper is made from virgin fibers and suitable for direct contact with dry and non-fatty food products. Printable in helio and flexo, it perfectly supports brand messages. Suitable for printable in gravure and flexo, extrusion and coating, varnishing, and hot and cold sealing, Gerstar Mo is recommended for use in bags, sachets and pouches. It is mainly used for dry-food flexible packaging such as biscuits, crisp breads or dehydrated food.

Ahlstrom and Munksjö joined forces in 2017 and the acquisition of Expera was completed in October 2018 to form a key global player in fiber-based materials. Its mission is to expand the role of fiber-based solutions for sustainable everyday life. 

The company employs some 8000 people and annual net sales are about EUR 3 billion. Its offering include filter materials, release liners, food and beverage processing materials, decor papers, abrasive and tape backings, electrotechnical paper, glass fiber materials, medical fiber materials and solutions for diagnostics as well as a range of specialty papers for industrial and consumer end-uses. 

This new chapter opens up unique development opportunities for the food industry. Ahlstrom-Munksjö strongly supports co-innovation with its customers and a creative approach to develop tailor-made solutions for the needs of tomorrow. Ahlstrom-Munksjö Group is highly committed to playing its part in protecting the planet for future generations.