Sainsbury’s has introduced a new ‘smart’ label for its own-brand ham that shows how long the product has been open in the fridge, in a bid to cut waste.
The ‘Smart Fresh’ label acts as a reminder to consumers that open a pack of ham and put it back in the fridge by changing colour from yellow to purple, the longer the pack has been open.
The new label is temperature sensitive, with the rate of colour change designed to slow down depending on how cool the fridge is.
Jane Skelton, head of packaging at Sainsbury’s, said: “We’ve all been there; when we’ve found a pack of ham loitering on the bottom shelf of the fridge and can’t remember how long it’s been opened for.
“With sliced ham in fridges up and down the country – we wanted to find a way to reduce waste of this family favourite while helping customers save money with the new Smart Fresh technology.”
The launch of the new packaging comes as figures from WRAP have revealed that UK households bin 1.9 million slices of ham every day, or 32,500kg, at a cost of £170 million every year.
The new technology forms part of the retailer’s £10 million ‘Waste less, Save more’ initiative and is being trialled on its own-brand seven slice cooked ham, available across all stores.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
