Plastic packaging specialist Linpac Packaging (Featherstone / UK; www.linpac.com), has extended its reach in the Middle East with a contract to supply vacuum skin pack (VSP) solutions to one of Saudi Arabia’s largest chicken producers. The company will supply PET skin trays following the chicken producer’s investment in two VSP packaging lines from Italian machine manufacturer Mondini (Cologne; www.gmondini.com).

Linpac said the customer expects volumes to grow significantly over the next three years and sees the prospect of extending production to a further four lines as Saudi Arabian per capita poultry consumption is 45 kg annually, second only to Qatar, which has the highest consumption in the world. The market is also moving rapidly from frozen – largely imported – birds to fresh poultry, locally produced and slaughtered to Islamic custom, the company said.

Linpac partnered with Mondini and US flexible packaging producer Bemis (Neenah, Wisconsin; www.bemis.com) to create the VSP solution earlier in 2013 – see Plasteurope.com of 15.08.2013. The packaging offers improved product protection, extends shelf-life for meat by as much as three days and brings the packer a flexible packaging solution suitable for large and small runs, Linpac said.