Constar wins Ameristar Award for sustainable PET jar for Francesco Rinaldi Pasta Sauces

Constar, Inc., a leading producer of innovative monolayer PET containers, has won the 2009 Ameristar Award for Food Packaging with a lightweight PET jar for LiDestri Foods’ Francesco Rinaldi brand pasta sauces.Each year, the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) honors companies that have succeeded in creating innovative packaging that deliver improved efficiency and sustainability. Constar’s sustainable, monolayer PET jar for Francesco Rinaldi brand pasta sauces was honored with a 2009 Ameristar Award. Ameristar-winning packages will participate in the international WorldStar Awards competition. In 2008, Constar won both Ameristar and WorldStar Awards for a monolayer PET wine bottle with Monoxbar® oxygen scavenging technology for French wine-maker, Boisset Family Estates. The Ameristar Awards will be formally presented to all winners at the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) annual packaging summit on May 18 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago.    LiDestri Foods converted its Francesco brand of pasta sauces to Constar’s PET jars from another PET container, gaining an improved packaging solution, significant production efficiencies and a unique branded package design. Using CONSTructTM advanced predictive engineering software; Constar designed a jar that is nearly 11 percent, roughly eight grams per jar, lighter in weight than the existing PET jar with side grips that it replaced. The VCT technology provides rigid “ribbed” geometry, which eliminates the need for vacuum panels and improves stability. According to John LiDestri, president and CEO for Lidestri Foods, “These new bottles are labeled and filled 25 percent faster than the previous container with less downtime.” Despite being lighter in weight, the Francesco Rinaldi brand pasta sauce jars with VCT technology are more robust and demonstrate improved top load performance. Ringing the shoulder of the jar is a continuous circle of embossed tomatoes, made even more lifelike by the ruby-red tomato sauce inside the clear PET. The design enhances the product's shelf appeal and is a tribute to LiDestri Foods’ 50-year history in the food industry. Constar’s Ameristar-winning jar is on trend with consumer and retailer preference for greener packaging. In addition to being light-weight and shatterproof, PET is among the most recyclable of plastics and is BPA free. Containers made from PET are accepted in curbside recycling programs and are recycled into a wide-range of new products.   Constar’s Ameristar-winning PET jar features the company’s Vertical Compensation Technology™ (VCT™), a panel-less design for hot fill food and beverage products that withstands the rigors of high temperature processing while approximating the look, rigid in-hand feel, and filling-line performance of glass. While several beverage products are already packaged in VCT bottles, LiDestri Foods is the first major company to commercialize Constar’s VCT jar technology with its 45-ounce Francesco Rinaldi brand pasta sauce, gaining significant performance and sustainability benefits along with brand-enhancing features.

Suzanne Cohen

Senior Manager, Marketing Services

+1 215.552.3727