New packaging ideas encourage consumers to purchase fresh herbs more frequently

Adaptions to the packaging of traditional herbs such as mint, parsley, coriander, basil, chives and dill, is driving a rise in sales, a Dutch company that grows, packages, and sells potted and fresh cut herbs, is reporting.

According to Marco de Jager, director of Vitacress Real, in an interview for Dutch trade magazine, AGF Primeur, targeting various groups has enabled the company to introduce a variety of different bags. These include the traditional Dutch bag of 20 grams of fresh herbs, 40 grams, and 10 gram packages for meal packages; for people who use herbs more often, packages of 100 or 200 grams are available.

“In this way we encourage the various target groups who use fresh herbs to buy herbs more often or for the first time and that is where most growth is,” de Jager explained.

To make the bunched herbs suitable for supermarkets, products must come from Europe and meet the maximum residue level (MRL) standards of the supermarkets.

In Germany, Vitacress Real has introduced packaged bunches of flat-leaf parsley and dill. In the Dutch market, it is experimenting with mint while in the traditional sales channels, bunches of coriander are on offer.

For the growing meal packages segment, small bags of herbs, such as thyme or rosemary, fit the bill as they offer fresh flavour.

Softer herbs are in a perforated film that is tailored to the packaged product. less quickly. We already do this for meal box deliverers and we also see opportunities for fresh packages in the supermarket channel.”