Packaging

Greater Convenience Now Available for Anchovy Packaging

Tuesday 14. October 2008 - Crown expands PeelSeam product range with new smaller rectangular lid

Crown’s new PeelSeam provides consumers more convenient access to traditional rectangular metal packaging for anchovies. Introduced on this market by CROWN Food Europe, a business unit of Crown Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCK) (Crown) (www.crowncork.com), the PeelSeam easy-open feature on anchovy cans offers a clear advantage for brand owners aiming for greater shelf impact, and has been developed in response to a growing trend in the European fish can market.

Gil Comes is supplying the new 99mm x 46mm PeelSeam closure for the anchovy product line it supplies under the “Hacendado” brand name to Mercadona, Spain’s largest retailer and is the first filler to adopt this end on the cans already in the market. Crown manufactures this new size in Vigo, Northern Spain, where the company has invested in new facilities to expand supplies of its increasingly popular range of PeelSeam closures. Today this site is capable of manufacturing both round and rectangular PeelSeam for various market sectors across Europe.

The anchovy PeelSeam end consists of a thin flexible foil heat-sealed to a rigid steel ring for conventional double seaming onto standard containers and requires no adjustment to tooling or seaming processes. Crown’s Customer Service team supported Gil Comes to ensure that the customer launch went smoothly.

Francisco Gil, owner of Gil Comes, says, “Crown worked closely with us throughout the project to ensure continuity of supply to our customer. We are all very pleased with the new closure system for this valuable market in Spain.”

PeelSeam ends offer consumers an alternative easy and safe way to open metal containers. Crown Food Spain’s Commercial Director Javier Rodriguez says “We are pleased to help launch this new size of end with Gil Comes for Mercadona, its valued customer. As both Gil Comes and Mercadona know, convenience is key in the food industry and PeelSeam lidding is providing a powerful differentiator in the competitive canned fish market.”