New Research from CMI shows consumers prefer cans

According to the latest research from The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), food cans are preferred by consumers when compared with other packaging formats. The findings show that cans help families enjoy nutritious meals and significantly impact retail profits, connecting retailers, brands and consumers to the foods they love. CROWN Food Packaging North America, a business unit of Crown Holdings and member of CMI, offers a broad range of food packaging technologies to help brands meet consumer demands, including reliability, environmental responsibility and safety. The new research by CMI indicates that, when asked which package is best for sealing in nutrients, existing purchasers of canned food chose the can nearly twice as often as frozen boxes/bags or glass jars.  Canning facilities are strategically located near farms so that fruit and vegetables are canned within hours of being picked - the time when they are at their freshest. The food is then cooked in the can to destroy bacteria, leaving a low oxygen environment that maintains the same amount of vitamins and nutrients from the day the food was canned – without the need for any chemical preservatives – for the can’s entire shelf life. This value is reinforced by the fact that cans outsell alternative food packaging two to one in sales per unit, which is significant considering that 70-80% of the bottom line for grocery retailers is attributed to “center store” sales. Being able to offer food options that help consumers maintain healthy lifestyles and put nutritious meals on the table is proving critical for retailers to move products off store shelves and offer value to shoppers. “At the store and in the home, cans provide brands with a valuable opportunity to connect with consumers. This is especially true when brands leverage packaging that enhances convenience and ease of opening, such as our EasyLift easy-open ends and PeelSeam peelable ends,” says Hella Gourven, marketing manager, CROWN Food Packaging North America. “In this way, metal packaging serves both as an effective tool for brands to build their reputation and offer a product that’s easy and dependable – and preferred by consumers.” Though food cans benefit consumers of all ages, Millennials and Gen-Xers with children select canned food more often than consumers without kids. This fact offers an important avenue to connect with mothers – an extremely powerful demographic for retailers and brands alike. Canned goods are stocked in 98% of Americans’ kitchens and eight in ten Americans do not go one week without cooking with them. CMI also outlines other key benefits of metal packaging:

Additional information about the sustainability of metal packaging can be found in Crown’s latest sustainability report. Visit www.crowncork.com/sustainability to download the report.