Indonesian company Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) said it will launch the new Foopak Bio Natura Cup, a 100 per cent bio-degradable beverage and food cup, at the Gulfood Manufacturing 2016 trade show, which will take place next month in Dubai, UAE.

APP is the trade name for a group of pulp and paper manufacturing companies in Indonesia and China.

The event will take place from November 7 to 9, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The Foopak Bio Natura Cup is suitable for both hot and cold foods across a range of applications including ice cream tubs, hot beverages and takeaway food, said a statement from the company.

It makes use of an innovative bio-degradable aqueous coating as an alternative to a polyethylene (PE) lining, ensuring that the packaging is easily recyclable and compostable at end of life without the need for difficult and expensive plastic separation, it said.

The new cup joins the existing range of Foopak products spanning greaseproof papers and boards, cupcake and other bakery liners, as well as heat sealable, PE and folding boxboards, it added.

In selected global markets, the cup is especially produced as part of the DeliPac range distributed by Delipac Limited, said a statement.

The entire Foopak range is halal-certified to the Indonesian HAS 23000 standard, helping brands to appeal to consumers from the world’s fastest growing faith. Assurance that an entire product, including its packaging, is free from non-halal ingredients has become increasingly important to this rapidly growing market, it stated.

Across the Middle East, the Foopak range has been designed to help food brands take advantage of emerging consumer trends including the growth of supermarket retail, food home delivery services and more premium options in fast food, it said.

Within the UAE, the home of Gulfood, the fast food sector is currently expanding at more than 11 per cent in value terms annually as food brands seek to target a large and affluent consumer base. In Egypt, despite high levels of inflation and adverse economic conditions the sector is experiencing rapid growth in the value share of hypermarkets and the growth of full service restaurants is encouraging consumers to turn to packaged food to prepare more exotic meals at home, it added.

Andika Roemin, senior vice president, Middle East and North Africa (Mena) at APP, said: “Foopak is one of our most popular packaging ranges, and we are proud to be supporting brands to target new opportunities across the food sector.”

“The introduction of the Foopak Bio Natura Cup adds a biodegradable option to the portfolio, and one that we expect will be popular across the Middle East and wider world, especially given current attention to the issue of the end of life of single-use cups,” he said.

“This innovation provides a readily recyclable and biodegradable alternative, one that we expect to have a huge impact,” he added.

“The halal certification is a real point of differentiation for our company, helping our customers to appeal to Muslim consumers. Combined with our wider product certification from ISEGA and the US FDA, halal certification provides additional assurance for all consumers about the quality and safety of our production facilities,” Roemin concluded. – TradeArabia News Service