The noodle: In principle, it may be just a mixture of ground grain, water, possibly egg and some spices. But as is so often the case in the kitchen, this highly simple basic recipe is the basis for a huge global success - and the trend is rising.

In 2020 alone, every German ate almost ten kilograms of this delicious variety - almost 800,000 tons of pasta in Germany alone. In Italy, it was recently around three times as much. Around 25 kilograms of pasta were eaten there per capita and year.

Simple basic recipe, enormous popularity across all tastes, almost endless possibilities for variation in terms of shape and (other) ingredients. This makes pasta eaters a truly huge target group. But where a product can be so diverse, it has similarly varied options for packaging.

We'll now show you how to package both fresh and dried varieties of this popular pastry in a way that's appropriate for your target group and product.

What must pasta packaging basically do?

There are four primary ways to bring the noodle to market:

1. Dried: This is by far the best-selling variety.
2. Pre-cooked and cooled: basically noodles that only need to be heated.
3. Pre-cooked and deep-frozen (TK): Before heating, another defrosting stage takes place
4. Fresh and chilled: Pasta dough that has only been shaped and still has to go through the complete cooking process - the rarest of all variants.

With all options, it is also possible to integrate additional ingredients. Think, for example, of the well-known five-minute terrine, which only needs to have water poured over it, or ready-made frozen pasta dishes that only need to be put into the pan.

Depending on the approach, this results in several and partly

different necessities for the packing:

• The pasta must always be shielded from the outside world. This is especially true for the pre-cooked and fresh varieties.
• There must be enough space to accommodate all mandatory as well as additional information on it - from ingredients to preparation tips.
• Precisely because pasta comes in so many varieties, customers must be able to easily recognize shape and size.
• Especially for the pre-cooked and fresh specimens, the packaging must be waterproof - both because of the moisture content of the pasta itself and (especially for frozen goods) wetness due to the thawing process.
• For all refrigerated/frozen variants, the packaging material must be able to withstand these low temperatures without hardening or the like.

Furthermore, all pasta packaging must be sufficiently robust to survive handling between point-of-sale and household undamaged. This may lead to situations where mail order pasta requires additional (more robust) outer packaging.

Boxes for pasta - which variants are suitable?

With the enormous market importance of dried noodles, probably everyone has had them in their hands: Typical boxes made of cardboard. It doesn't matter which cardboard material is used - it only has to be food-safe on the inside, which comes into contact with the noodles.

Thus, in the end, everything boils down to the design of the boxes. In fact, the folding folding carton in all its variants is by far the most popular choice. It looks good, is an excellent carrier for the necessary information thanks to its straight surfaces, can be printed in the best possible way and, what's more, has fixed dimensions.

However, fixed dimensions is also an important keyword. If you want to pack your noodles in boxes, you should consider the following things:

1. In trade and many people at home, several packages of pasta are stacked or otherwise stored close together. Boxes in the shape of a cuboid are the most suitable for this purpose, because all their six sides are flat. This is followed by hanging and pouch boxes, which deviate from this design only at the top.
2. Due to the large number of variants, a printed picture of the respective noodle is not enough for many people. Many folding boxes therefore contain a viewing window. This allows a direct view of the product, its shape and the real size.
3. 500 grams is the most commonly used sales quantity for pasta. However, this is often too much for one meal, and not just for single households. The boxes should therefore at least be conveniently and securely resealable.

Bag for pasta plastic

In terms of popularity, then plastic bags of any kind are the runners-up as far as pasta packaging is concerned. Unlike cardboard, they can also hold dried pasta, but the material properties of plastic automatically make them suitable for all other forms of sale. In fact, if your noodles are pre-cooked or fresh (especially in the refrigerated-only variety), then plastic bags are your only option.

Let's start with dry pasta. Here your options are particularly broad. Many manufacturers simply use transparent foil bags. These are usually sealed after filling, but are often additionally secured with clip band closures* for optical reasons and for better resealability.

Furthermore, it is possible to package these dry noodles and all other variants in resealable stand-up pouches or Doypacks. Compared to conventional plastic bags, these not only look much better and are easier to reseal, but they also retain their stability regardless of the filling level. This is another important factor, since not every pasta buyer prepares the entire contents of the bag at once.

Clip band or pouch closures are the name given to the system of two parallel metal wires inserted into a common plastic casing and bent around an opening.

Once again, however, you should also make sure that the product is clearly visible in doypacks. Due to the poor legibility of printed information on completely transparent bags, pasta packaging with window strips is once again your best choice - especially since they leave enough space for promotional printing.

Paper pasta bag

Paper and cardboard are among the easiest packaging materials to recycle. Especially if you use largely unprinted bags made of natural (brown) paper, your pasta packaging already speaks a clear language in this regard. These bags are also particularly suitable if the market positioning of a type of pasta is to go in a high-quality, noble direction.

But which noodles can be packaged in this way? For many years, only dried noodles came into question, due to the wetness sensitivity of paper. Now, however, it is easily possible to coat the inside of paper bags with food-safe plastics and thus obtain all the advantages of bags made of solid plastic. In fact, recently it has even been possible to do without them altogether.

For example, a large manufacturer of frozen foods has been packaging vegetable mixes in pure paper bags for several years. In 2020, this won the special prize in the packaging category of the German Sustainability Award.

However, as recently as 2019, another pasta manufacturer complained that, in his experience, pure paper bags were not well received by consumers. Some time has passed since then, but you should still carefully analyze the inclinations of your target group before deciding on this material.

Innovative pasta packaging

Almost 730 years after Marco Polo brought noodles from China to Europe, these three types of packaging have become firmly established. However, frozen packaging made of solid paper already shows how little research has reached the end of the line here.

Particularly with the dramatic increase in the importance of sustainability, further materials are therefore constantly being researched and tested for their suitability - precisely also for pasta packaging.

Here, not least, the ever-growing topic of bio-plastics takes on a special significance. At the beginning of 2022, for example, a product designer presented a plastic bag-like noodle packaging.

However, this does not consist of conventional petroleum-based polymers, but of corn starch and cellulose. On the one hand, this makes it compostable. On the other hand, it can also go into the pot and act as a sauce binder - which, after all, also consists mainly of starch.

Cardboard, plastic and paper bags: advantages of the variants at a glance

Boxes

• Known and proven
• Good to very good to recycle
• Available with viewing window
• Rich in variants
• Easy to stack
• Sometimes resealable

Plastic bag

• Suitable for all types of pasta
• Recyclable plastics possible
• Easily resealable
• With viewing window or fully transparent
• Particularly hygienic without further coating

Paper bag

• Good to very good to recycle
• Meanwhile suitable for many types of pasta
• Available with viewing window
• Can be easily coated
• Sometimes resealable

Typically, all retail presentation forms of noodles are only primary packaged - mainly in the noodle packaging already mentioned here in the text. However, there are equally possibilities for secondary packaging. Some of them may even consist of the aforementioned packaging. Some ways of thinking:

• Portioning: The primary packaging of (dried) pasta consists of small folding boxes or bags. They contain a much smaller quantity than conventional packaging. However, one such, larger, box is used as outer packaging. The advantage: the fixed portion sizes make portioning easier, and the noodles keep longer.
• Labels: They, too, count as secondary packaging. For example, printed labels can contain all the information, while the actual packaging remains natural - making it particularly sustainable and cost-effective, among other things.
• Glasses: A bit unusual, but unbeatable because of the sustainability and the long service life. The customer not only gets the noodles, but also a secondary packaging in the form of the (resealable) jar, which he can continue to use for many years. This could be an idea for limited editions, for example.

Our tip: Be creative and think away from the scheme that pasta should always be sold only in large portions in a primary package.

In today's world, where sustainability is a top priority, we are

has become extremely diverse as well as life models, the approach of the typical 500-gram pasta package can often be too unspecific.

If your focus is particularly strong on sustainability, then it could be an option to at least offer the noodles to the customers themselves without packaging. For you, this means (if you operate with intermediaries):

In terms of packaging, it is only necessary to use large containers. For example, very large boxes. However, these are only used as containers at the point of sale. Either the salesperson or the customer removes the desired quantity of noodles - depending on the approach, they are then placed in containers brought along or in outer packaging offered on site.

This principle is not as far-fetched as it may sound. At the beginning of the convenience era, dry pasta was often sold this way in typical "corner stores.

At least in terms of sustainability, this approach is very good. There is less packaging waste overall. The packaging for the customers can consist of simple paper bags. If customers bring their own containers, even this waste is eliminated.

However, you must be aware that there are many possibilities for a qualitative impairment of the goods. At the very least, therefore, service should be ensured at the point of sale.

Conclusion: many options to wrap the kitchen classic.

Pasta, in its many forms, is one of the most important foods in many countries. However, in order for you to always choose the optimal packaging, it is not only important to consider the issue of hygiene, but also the inclinations of your target group and the level at which you want to position your doughy delicacy - after all, fine pasta wants to be packaged differently than inexpensive pasta for everyday use.

FAQ

1. Is any packaging material suitable for pasta?

   No. Regardless of the condition in which the pasta is sold, the packaging materials that come into contact with it must meet all legal requirements.

2. How could I pack frozen pasta in cartons?

   Here, a similar approach to that used for frozen pizzas would be appropriate. That is, the noodles in a primary packaging made of plastic, which in turn is in a secondary packaging made of cardboard.

 

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