Elliott’s new meat pad cuts odours and food waste

Elliott Absorbent Products has launched a new UniDry^® AB/AD Odour Absorbent Meat Pad that absorbs odours and significantly reduces food waste by cutting product returns from shoppers concerned that their food has gone off.

The new UniDry^® AD pads use an innovative carbon layer that absorbs the organic aromatics emitted as meat ages and which mean it can fail the ‘sniff test’ when opened, resulting in perfectly good food being thrown away or returned to supermarkets for a refund.

Annually, UK households waste approximately 6.4 million tonnes of edible food which is 16% of all the food purchased. Globally, food waste is responsible for at least 8% of greenhouse gas emissions.

The new pads which come in a variety of sizes from 80x100mm to 300x600mm are ideal for fish and long shelf-life meat products such as large seasonal roasting joints or 30 day aged steaks. Elliott says the pads utilise a proprietary core that gives tremendous blood and water absorbency of between 13 litres and 26 litres per square metre.

Tests with meat processing specialist Hilton Foods have shown that not only are the pads effective in reducing odours they have also reduced customer complaints and product returns by 70%.

Neil Huggins, technical account manager at Hilton Foods said: “We ran two trials with the Elliott pads on seasonal products over the Christmas period and found they significantly reduced customer returns according to data supplied from our customers.

“Odour associated with large joints and aged steak products has been a long-standing problem. On specialist short run seasonal products and this can be a big issue leading to some products being delisted. The odour issue is complicated by the fact that some people are more sensitive to smells than others. These new pads have been really helpful in reducing odours and ensuring more customers are happy when they open the pack.”

The UniDry AD pads are an extension of the market-leading UniDry range of ultra-thin, super absorbent sealed edge pads. Launched in 2020 they have been widely adopted by fresh meat and fish processors.

Matt Hankins, managing director of Elliott Absorbent Products said: “UniDry^® AD is a major innovation in odour reduction and food waste avoidance. Red meat production is very carbon intensive and so it is important to ensure it reaches consumers in the best possible condition so they can enjoy it and carbon emissions associated with wasting it are avoided.

“These results with Hilton Foods are outstanding. We have already had lots of interest from UK meat processors and supermarkets. We aim to expand our customer base across Europe and beyond where there is a huge untapped market.”

UniDry^® AD is available in both pads and reels, black as standard with other colours upon request. The range has full EU migration conformance and is manufactured at Elliott’s state of the art factory in the UK.

Learn more abut our UniDry^® AB/AD Odour Absorbent Pads, or contact sales@elliottabsorbents.co.uk to order your UniDry® sample pads today!