Responding to consumer dissatisfaction with vacuum-packed minced meat, Iceland Foods is re-introducing plastic trays to its beef and pork mince products.
Six months ago, Iceland repackaged its beef and pork mince range into airtight vacuum packaging. It was designed to contain 50% less plastic and sought to reduce the retailer’s annual consumption by 35 tonnes.
At the same time, it was said to keep the products fresh for approximately two and a half weeks – increasing product shelf life by almost 50% – and allow more packs to fit into one delivery truck, thus cutting down on carbon emissions and ensuring a consistent supply.
Several other retailers were making the same move. Lidl’s transition into vacuum-packed beef mince was intended to lower its plastic consumption by 63% and save 250 tonnes every year, while Asda foresaw a 60-tonne reduction of plastic in its annual operations when it vacuum-packed its own beef mince range in 60% less plastic.
Such redesigns were not always received well by consumers. When Sainsbury’s started distributing its beef mince in vacuum packaging back in 2023, it sought to eliminate 55% of plastic per product and 450 tonnes from its supply chain every year.
However, consumers branded the new packaging ‘awful’, complaining about its negative impacts on the meat’s texture and appearance – and that, unlike the previous design, the film was not kerbside recyclable. While it could be recycled at in-store recycling points, critics considered this inconvenient.
Now Iceland has decided to re-instate its traditional plastic trays. Sharing the news on X, it declared that “you asked, we delivered. The classic mince packaging is back!”
One user praised the move, commenting that vacuum packaging “made the meat mush” and caused it to look “unappealing”.
“Will definitely be getting our mince meat from [Iceland] from now on, since you’re the only retailer that seems to listen to customers,” they said.
It didn't just make it unappealing and look like mush somehow it made the meat mush...it was horrid to cook with and even worse to eat...will definitely be getting our mince meat from here from now on since your the only retailer that seems to listen to customers.
— Brian G (@Brian76uk) January 30, 2025
Others agreed that the redesigned packaging “made the product look unappealing and horrible”, and that the return to plastic trays is a “good move”.
One user disagreed, however – claiming they “didn’t ask” for the reversal and that the vacuum packaging was “better”.
Robert Lilienfeld, founder and executive director of sustainable packaging think tank SPRING, previously reflected on Sainsbury’s repackaging its mince as a “complete failure”. In his view, vacuum packaging “probably does a better job of maintaining freshness and safety”, but turned the meat an unappealing purple colour, discouraged consumers from buying, and generated more food waste.
Another packaging controversy arose when Sainsbury’s and Tesco decided to remove rigid lids from their own-brand houmous pots late last year. It was intended to save 50 million pieces of plastic annually between the two retailers, but consumers reported that the new peelable lids were difficult to reseal, leading to more spillages and spoilage.
On the other hand, some said they had solved the problem by reusing lids – either from rigid houmous packs or a reusable, BPA-free stretchy lid sold by Sainsbury’s – or covering the pots with small plates.
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