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In the food industry, and especially in produce, lidding film (or top seal) has become a primary flexible packaging choice. Not only does it provide extra benefits for customers, but it creates opportunities for brands to elevate their product as well.

What are lidding films?

Lidding films are a type of flexible packaging film. Generally speaking, they are most commonly made from paper, foils, polyethylene, polyester, and other types of flexible packaging materials.

Lidding films are available in both easy-peel and lock-tight versions. With easy-peel, as the name would suggest, the consumer can peel the film from the container with relative ease.

On the other hand, lock-tight films seal so tightly; you need a tool (such as scissors or a knife) to gain access to the product. This type of film features a layer of sealant that is laminated to the lidding film for superior adhesion.

What are lidding films used for?

Lidding films are most commonly used to seal plastic containers, paperboard pints, or trays for food items such as dairy products like sour cream and cottage cheese. Other products packaged in lidding films may also include canned soups, meats, microwave dinners, and other foods packaged in rigid containers.

What are the benefits of lidding film?

1.Consumers can see the product that they’re purchasing clearly through the film while keeping the package intact. Also, peel and reseal lidding film allows customers to completely reseal their produce packaging with ease.

2.Rather than being limited to a label on a container, lidding film has a large surface area that can enable innovative branding and maximum shelf impact.

3.Lidding film offers high barrier protection capabilities with the use of specialty films in production. Barrier protected film keeps produce fresh for longer and extends the shelf life of a product. Find out more about barrier protection in our blog post here.

4.In addition to being able to reseal the product completely, you can integrate traceability software into lidding film with the help of our specialized equipment department. This allows you to keep track of your raw materials from the time they enter your facility to when they’re released into the field. Adding this software increases supply chain visibility, improves quality control, and offers your company extra protection should you have to recall any of your products.

5.Lidding film uses up to 25% less plastic than a traditional clamshell. At Associated, we also offer fully recyclable and sustainable film options for lidding film.

At Associated, we are dedicated to pushing the boundaries with lidding film. We have an in-house tactical team that meets wee kly to progress innovations and many contacts and resources, as well as partners at the Rutgers University Food Science Department.

Interested in finding out more? Reach out to us via our online contact form or request a quote here.

For over six years ZEKUN has been helping customers across the world to identify and create the most effective lidding solutions to meet individual packaging needs. Used in a wide range of retail, supermarket and bulk packed tray products, lidding film technology has developed a great deal in recent years, with ZEKUN constantly seeking new and innovative ways to satisfy the most challenging of lidding requirements.

Our current range of lidding films offer a number of distinct advantages, including:

Cost savings – up to 20% saving in tray costs, with removal of rigid lid

Easy first opening

Superior reclosing / resealing functionality

High shrinkage effect

Anti-fog

High moisture barrier

Product waste reduction

Designed with the essential strength, peelability, puncture resistance and barrier properties required to maintain peak product freshness; our high quality 8-colour printed films provide great shelf presence and extended shelf life for a variety of ‘easy peel’ or ‘weld seal’ applications.

We have years of experience matching the correct film type with a particular tray material and offer lidding film solutions for a wide range of tray types, including PP, PET, PVC, PS and foil. We can also match your lidding requirements with thermoform, semi-rigid bottom web films.

Complementing established monolayer and laminate solutions for lidding we now offer lidding film for re-closing mono-material trays. European sourced, this film offers optimum machinability and superior reclosing, which is suitable for packaging cheese, meat, ready meals, snacks and confectionary.