Insights
Meat Snacks Are USDA Territory: What That Means for Your Co-Packer
Most packaged foods in the US are regulated by the FDA. Meat and poultry are not. They fall under the USDA, and the difference is
July 7, 2026
Most packaged foods in the US are regulated by the FDA. Meat and poultry are not. They fall under the USDA, and the difference is
The meat snack category is booming, and it is diversifying fast. Sales have grown more than 45% in four years to $4.4 billion, beef is
For a meat snack, the package is not just a wrapper. It is the thing standing between a high-protein product and the oxygen, moisture, and
For electrical and electronics manufacturers, packaging is where four separate problems meet: fragile, high-value products that damage easily in transit; export shipments that can be
Food and beverage demand does not arrive in a smooth line. A holiday promotion can triple volume in a week. A retailer reset, a viral
When a food or beverage brand outsources packaging to a co-packer, it is also outsourcing its food-safety risk and its retail-audit readiness. If the co-packer
A corrugated box gets most of its stacking strength from one thing: the direction its fibers and flutes run. Paper is far stronger along the
Watch the same person hand-pack fragile components at 8 a.m. and again at 4 p.m. and you will see two different jobs. The morning crate
A transformer bushing leaves your dock in good shape. Three weeks later it reaches a customer in another country, they open the crate, and the
The US contract packaging market is in the middle of a structural expansion, not a post-pandemic spike. Independent forecasts from Mordor Intelligence and Precedence Research
The Email That Used to Be Enough Isn’t Enough Anymore Five years ago, the relationship between a CPG brand and its co-packer looked like this:
The Recycling Symbol Isn’t a Compliance Strategy For years, food and beverage brands have treated sustainability claims on packaging as a marketing exercise. Print the
Your Packaging Line Is Probably the Bottleneck. The Hidden Cost of Your Labor Crisis Ask a food and beverage COO what keeps them up at
Open any manufacturing trade publication in 2026 and you will see the same phrase repeated everywhere: Physical AI. It is on the cover of PMMI’s
On May 25, 2026, Maine will enforce a ban on PFAS in nine categories of plant-fiber food contact packaging. If your paperboard trays, molded pulp
Ask a VP of Operations how many packaging vendors their company manages and the answer is usually vague. “Seven, maybe eight. Plus a couple we
If you sell through Amazon and you have not updated your packaging specs in the last 12 months, you are probably losing money right now.
The barcode as you know it is about to change. By December 31, 2027, every major retailer in North America is expected to scan a