Can butter be packed in anything other than aluminium laminated paper or a plastic tub? The supermarket chain Carrefour has turned its board-based butter tub into a successful product. The design of the board-based container and the consumer-friendly packaging concept are the result of years of product development work.

Up until now butter packaging has been a relatively poorly developed area in the dairy processing industry. Butter and margarine products have been packed either in aluminium laminated paper or in plastic tubs. Retailers have not competed for consumer interest by means of design or new material options. Against this background, the Carrefour supermarket chain's board-based butter tub is a real novelty. It is the first board-based butter tub in Europe to be marketed in a major retail chain.
"Butter packaging is a demanding area, as butter is stored in dairies at a humidity of 95% and a temperature of +4 °C. However, the relative humidity and temperature in the cold chain of shops and consumer refrigerators are different. This means that the structure of the tub has to be able to withstand these variations and prevent detrimental reactions," says Luc Lesénécal, head of marketing at the Isigny Sainte-Mère dairy, which supplies butter to Carrefour.
Butter from the Normandy-based Isigny Sainte-Mère dairy may be marked with the AOC (Appellation d´Origine Contrôlée) label, which verifies the product's origin. AOC-classified butter is a premium product in Carrefour's range and for this reason the global hypermarket giant wants its butter tub to stand out clearly from its basic products.
Thanks to its design and the good print quality made possible by the use of board, the container attracts the consumers eye on the cold shelf. The container and its Ecoclip lid developed by the packaging manufacturer CAN Packaging is also easy to open and close. The container has gone through exhaustive tests in which the package's grease resistance and organoleptic properties as well as its ability to withstand transport and storage have been tested. CAN Packaging's machine and packaging expertise combined with Stora Enso's wide range of boards has been of crucial importance in developing the container.
"The dairy industry is one of our growth areas because the potential of board packaging in dairy products has been insufficiently exploited. The example provided by major end customers such as Carrefour will encourage the entire dairy industry to source new packaging applications," says Sales Director Alain Piattier of Stora Enso France.
Stora Enso's Ensocup and Ensocoat board grades as well as Ensobarr coating in the bottom of the butter container are used. The coating provides the board with good barrier properties which surpass those of aluminium folio. The packaging solution has received the 1999 Packaging Oscar of the IFEC (Institut Français de l´Emballage et du Conditionnement), an award which is highly esteemed in France.


Company information:
Carrefour with annual sales of EUR 60 billion is the world's second biggest retail chain. The company has some 9,000 outlets in 26 countries and employs about 240,000 people.
Stora Enso Oyj's core product areas are packaging boards, magazine papers, newsprint and fine papers. The company has annual sales of approximately EUR 10.5 billion and some 40,000 employees in more than 40 countries.


For further information please contact:

Stora Enso Oyj
Special Food Packaging Boards
Mr Yrjö Aho, Vice President
FIN-55800 Imatra
FINLAND
Tel: +358 2046 121
Fax: +358 2046 24767
E-mail: yrjo.aho@storaenso.com

Stora Enso France S.A.
Mr Alain Piattier
15/25 Blvd de l'Amiral Bruix
F-75782 Paris Cedex 16
FRANCE
Tel: +33 1 5364 7955
Fax: +33 1 5364 7994
E-mail: alain.piattier@storaenso.com

Stora Enso UK Ltd
Mr Roy Bray
12th floor, Newland House
49 Mount Street
GB-Nottingham, NG1 6HE
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 115 964 7100
Fax: +44 115 964 7170
E-mail: roy.bray@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Interamericas, Inc.
Mr Mikko Jaatinen
8750 Doral Boulevard
Suite 270
Miami, FL 33178
U.S.A
Tel: +1 305 716 9799
Fax: +1 305 716 5441
E-mail: mikko.jaatinen@storaenso.com

Stora Enso North America Corp.
Mr Michael Walsh
Two Landmark Square
3rd Floor
Stamford, CT 06901-2792
U.S.A
Tel: +1 203 356 2300
Fax: +1 203 356 2340
E-mail: Michael.Walsh@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Australia Pty. Ltd.
Mr Juhani Ellenberg
Level 17, NCR House
8-20 Napier Street
AUS-North Sydney 2060
AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 9955 4855
Fax: +61 2 9955 7933
E-mail: juhani.ellenberg@storaenso.com.au

Stora Enso Deutschland
Ms Jalliina Järvinen
Große Bleichen 30
D-20354 Hamburg
GERMANY
Tel: +49 (0)40 350 99 150
Fax: +49 (0)40 350 99 101
E-mail: jalliina.jarvinen@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Italia srl
Mr Renato Somekh
Via A. Volta, 16
I-20093 Cologno Monzese
ITALY
Tel: +39 02 251 514 74
Fax: +39 02 251 514 59
E-mail: renato.somekh@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Nederland B.V.
Mr J.W.F.Klarenbeek
Postbus 12386
NL-1101 AJ Amsterdam
THE NETHERLANDS
Tel: +31 20 650 5555
Fax: +31 20 650 5622
E-mail: jan-willem.klarenbeek@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Scandinavia AB
Packaging Boards
Mr Joakim Stockhaus
Kanikenäsbanken 10
S-652 26 Karlstad
SWEDEN
Tel: +46 54 22 2700
Fax: +46 54 22 2720
E-mail: joakim.stockhaus@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Argentina
Mr Eduardo Galindo
Lavalle 556 4°H
AR-1047 Buenos Aires
ARGENTINA
Tel: +54 11 4 325 0195/0361
Fax: +54 11 4 394 8344
E-mail: eduardo.galindo@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Brazil Ltda
Mr Timo Petteri Vuorio
Alameda Vicente Pinzon,
Nr 144, 09th floor, Suite 93
Vila Olimpia-São Paulo/SP
BR-0457-130
BRAZIL
Tel: +55 11 3846 1611
Fax: +55 11 3846 9757
E-mail: storaenso@uol.com.br

Stora Enso Chile S.A.
Mr Michael Eriksson
Apoquindo 5555 Of. 909
Las Condes
Santiago De Chile
CHILE
Tel: +56 2 342 1053
Fax: +56 2 342 1080
E-mail: michael.eriksson@storaenso.com
Stora Enso Southern Africa
Mr Vesa Pärssinen
P.O.Box 12900
N1 City
7463 Cape Town
SOUTH AFRICA
Tel: +27 21 595 0942
Fax: +27 21 595 1688
E-mail: vesa.parssinen@storaenso.com

Stora Enso (Middle East)
Mr Martti Harju
R/A 8 - HB1
Jebel ali Free Zone, Dubai
Mail: P.O.B. 61265
Dubai
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Tel: +971 4 8836 819
Fax: +971 4 8836 826
E-mail: martti.harju@storaenso.com

Stora Enso (HK) Ltd
Rm 3605-6 World Trade Centre
Mr Donny Chan
280 Gloucester Road
HONG HONG S.A.R.
Tel : +852 2312 1223
Fax : +852 2576 1480
E-mail: donny.chan@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Japan K.K.
Mr Eero Ala-Jääski, President
KM Nishiumeda Bldg.
20-1, Fukushima 7-chome
Fukushima-ku
J-Osaka 553-0003
JAPAN
Tel: +81 6 6455 6811
Fax: +81 6 6455 8811
E-mail: eero.ala-jaaski@storaenso.com

Stora Enso Singapore Pte Ltd
Mr Tom Alfthan
360 Orchard Road #11-01 International Building
SG-Singapore 238869
SINGAPORE
Tel: +65 235 3485
Fax: +65 737 4278
E-mail: tom.alfthan@storaenso.com

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