Dive Brief:
- Ball is closing a food can production facility in Springdale, Arkansas because of dwindling demand for canned foods, the company said in a statement.
- The Springdale plant will continue to produce aerosol cans and components used by other Ball food and aerosol facilities.
- “Given the overall decline in food can demand, our Springdale food can operations are no longer sustainable and we are electing to focus our remaining local plant resources on our growing aerosol business,” Jim Peterson, the company's chief operating officer, said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Categories across the center store are in decline as consumers move away from highly processed and shelf stable goods in favor of fresh foods and more nutritious alternatives. Canned fruits and vegetables, soups, sugary drinks, many frozen foods and the cereal aisle have all taken a hit. In the case of Ball, it's not surprising that its often used but largely inconspicuous cans are seeing demand wane as consumers change what they purchase.
While the average shopper still seeks out convenient meal solutions, they want those options to be as fresh and nutritious as possible. Though many canned food companies are reformulating to cut down on sodium and fat, canned food is still seen as something heavily processed.
Value-added produce offers opportunities for manufacturers — such as Campbell Soup, DanoneWave and McCormick — to bring the convenience of processed food to the fresh produce section. By playing to their strengths, these food makers increasingly are offering products that help create a faster, more convenient meal at home while at the same time taking into account the consumer's demand for fresher items.
Dwindling demand and the associated sales slowdown across many packaged foods categories is not only affecting food manufacturers but also other upstream vendors. Across the industry, cans and plastic bottles are being tossed aside in favor of aseptic, biodegradable and other innovative packaging.
Aseptic packaging, which uses state-of-the-art sterilization processes to lengthen product shelf-life and safely preserve it with fewer additives, is on the rise for all sorts of products, including milk, juices, soups and broths. Even boxed water is now available. Consequently, the shift in consumer preference toward fresh foods and more sustainable packaging — and manufacturers changing their ways to satisfy consumer demand — is creating new standards in the food space that show no sign of abating.