Du Caju Printing & Packaging is not the largest packaging company in the world. It is located in Erpe-Mere, just west of Brussels, has almost 50 employees and annual net sales of EUR 10 million. It’s a medium-sized converter. But it is also a specialist converter.
Of the packaging Du Caju produces, 85% is food related and 11% is chocolate packaging.
“In addition, just over 10% of what we do is packaging with direct contact between the food and the packaging material,” Du Caju account manager, Koen Penne, noted. “We are choosing our food contact materials such as paperboard very carefully to avoid taint, odour and migration problems.”
When it comes to understanding the nuances of packaging food, Du Caju is world class.
“When we choose the paperboard for chocolate packaging, the decisive factor is taste and odour neutrality. Of course the paperboard must be suitable for the construction we have chosen, but if we do not minimise the risk of the chocolate acquiring an off-taste from the packaging material then the rest does not matter,” Tom Du Caju added.
“In addition, just over 10% of what we do is packaging with direct contact between the food and the packaging material,” account manager, Koen Penne, added. “We are choosing our food contact materials such as paperboard very carefully to avoid taint, odour and migration problems.”
Du Caju has been working with the world’s largest chocolate producer, Barry Callebaut, for more than 25 years. The converter is regularly asked to create sophisticated promotional packaging for Callebaut as a sales tool and brand enhancer.
The latest creation, The Origin Box, has an outer box made of a brown-coloured speciality paper from James Cropper, Colorscope Bitter Chocolate 350 g/m2. Inside the box are samples of chocolate from many countries. Each sample is packed in a wedge-shaped box made of Incada Silk 300 g/m2 from Iggesund Paperboard. The box also features a wheel giving information about the different types of chocolate. The wheel is printed on Invercote Creato 400 g/m2, also from Iggesund Paperboard, and is covered with the same material as the outer box.
The brown material has a very matt appearance and a very natural look. The brown colour and the uncoated sides give a very good indication of the look of chocolate.
Iggesund Paperboard is part of the Swedish forest industry group Holmen, one of the world’s 100 most sustainable companies listed on the United Nations Global Compact Index. Invercote is its flagship product, sold in more than 100 countries.
All of these small details contributed to The Origin Box becoming a finalist in the ECMA/Pro Carton European packaging award competition in 2014.
This competition applauds the innovative and creative potential of cardboard packaging as well as craftsmanship in the packaging industry, and is presented during the the annual Pro Carton / ECMA Congress in September. In 2013, Du Caju won the award, for The Utlity Box which was also for Barry Callebaut. Its Sustainable Chocolate Box for Barry Callebaut was a finalist. Both were co-designed with Berlin Packaging design studio.
“We have learned from experience that only virgin fibre is good enough for this type of packaging,” explained Erwin Heeren, senior purchaser at Du Caju. “In choosing materials we also get support from our customer, Barry Callebaut, who tests all packaging materials for up to sixty days in its own sensory laboratory.”
Heeren is aware of the ongoing discussion about how mineral oil in materials from recyclde fibres can contaminate packaged foods. “We are following the mineral oil debate with great interest, as are our most knowledgeable customers. However, we are not seeing any increased demand for traceability certificates for paperboard materials – neither FSC nor PEFC. That demand is constant at between 3% and five% of our total volume.”
