With schedules showing no sign of slowing down, more people are reaching for packaged food thanks to its convenience. As such, the trend for food on-the-go continues to open up new opportunities for packaging companies. The latest example of this is the expansion of the LumiLid brand from Toray Plastics.

All LumiLid films are now FDA-compliant for use with oven temperatures of up to 400°F for 30 minutes. End users and converters can choose Toray's clear, white, or metallized LumiLid films for lidded refrigerated and frozen side dishes and entrees that require high heat for cooking or reheating.

"It's very significant," Milan Moscaritolo, senior director of sales for Toray Plastics, told PlasticsToday. "A lidding film that is suitable for use with refrigerated or frozen foods that are cooked or reheated in oven temperatures of up to 400° for 30 minutes gives end users and packaging engineers more flexibility and more choices in applications."

LumiLid brand films incorporate specialty performance film and sealant layers, delivering specified performance and seal-strength characteristics, the company said. They provide oxygen barrier, have a low seal initiation temperature (SIT), and offer an environment-friendly, solvent-free formulation that assures manufacturers that their customers will experience a pure, fresh food flavor. LumiLid films supply a clean, secure seal to APET, APET-coated board, CPET, PP, HDPE, and HIPS trays. In addition, LumiLid lidding films are printable and can be used to deliver a brand message.

Moscaritolo said the fact all of its LumiLid films are FDA-compliant will help the films expand its market share.

"It presents end users with more opportunities in product design for ovenable items that require higher heating temperatures," he said. "Those opportunities can result in more choices for the consumer."

LumiLid films have a broad sealant range, "excellent hot tack and thermal stability, and superior mechanical properties, including high strength, dimensional stability, and optical clarity, and they handle well on high-speed equipment," the company sstated. 

"People today have limited time to cook, but they still want satisfying food," Moscaritolo said. "The demand for lidding films for ovenable applications is strong and continues to increase with the growing popularity and variety of well-prepared meals and side-dish foods. Demand is also driven by a trend in packaging formats in which the end user wants the food product to be displayed more clearly to the consumer."