Tetra Pak, Shanghai Meilin extend Tetra Recart into Asian dessert soups

CHINA – Tetra Pak has partnered with Shanghai Meilin to apply Tetra Recart carton packaging to Asian dessert soups, enabling shelf-stable, ingredient-rich products with up to 18 months of ambient storage.

Shanghai Meilin, a sub-brand of Shanghai Bright Meat Group, has adopted the solution for its ready-to-eat Rock Sugar Mung Bean Soup and Rock Sugar Snow Fungus Soup desserts.

Tetra Recart supports small ingredient pieces alongside larger solid particles and high-viscosity formulations, giving brands greater flexibility when developing ingredient-rich Chinese desserts. 

The companies said the packaging’s sterilisation process preserves the authentic flavour of ingredients, maintaining the fresh texture, natural taste and nutritional value typically achieved through slow cooking. 

Traditionally, freshly prepared desserts face short shelf life and susceptibility to spoilage, limiting their distribution beyond local consumption.

Barrier Structure Protects Flavour Without Preservatives

Tetra Recart is manufactured from renewable paper-based materials, polymers and a high-performance aluminium barrier layer. 

The structure withstands high-temperature processing while shielding contents from light, oxygen and bacterial contamination, allowing the desserts to reach up to 18 months of shelf life at room temperature without preservatives. 

This barrier performance addresses a longstanding constraint in Chinese dessert manufacturing, where thermal processing frequently degrades delicate textures and aromatics.

Easy-Open Design Targets Everyday Consumption

The package features a three-step easy-open format with no sharp edges, described as safe and convenient for consumers of all ages including children and elderly users. 

Consumers fold the two sides upward and lift the opening tab, then tear along the dotted line to access the dessert. 

Combined with an attached spoon, the format delivers what the company described as a one-person, one-pack, one-spoon experience suited to office breaks, outdoor camping trips and late-night work sessions.

Prior Collaboration and Broader Asian Ambitions

The innovation builds on earlier collaboration between the two companies on prepackaged regional specialties, including Taiwanese-style braised pork rice, Japanese-style beef curry and Shanghai-style borscht soup. 

Tetra Recart is available in six sizes, 100 mL, 200 mL, 340 mL, 390 mL, 440 mL and 500 mL, covering single-serve convenience through family-sized sharing occasions. 

The square, compact format improves transportation and storage efficiency compared with glass bottles and metal cans, while enabling row arrangement on retail shelves to enhance display appeal. 

Tetra Pak said the solution is inspiring brands with new local possibilities, noting that soft tofu pudding, Beijing pear soup, mango pomelo sago and lotus seed red bean soup could leverage the technology to overcome distribution, space and freshness limitations.

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