Seafood Puts Packaging to the Test
Seafood is perishable, high-value, and unforgiving of failure. Sharp edges puncture films. Ice and meltwater compromise packaging integrity. Narrow shelf life windows leave no margin for error, and sustainability expectations from retailers and consumers keep rising, making it harder to rely on solutions that worked even a few years ago.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, inadequate packaging is responsible for between 10 and 30% of food waste globally. In seafood, where product value is high and margins can be tight, that number has real consequences for write-offs, retailer relationships, and brand reputation.
The challenges seafood producers face rarely travel alone. Switch to a more sustainable film without validating it for puncture resistance and you’ve traded one problem for another. Change your packaging format without testing it on your production equipment and you’ve created a new one. That’s why getting packaging right in this industry means looking at performance, sustainability, compliance, and production efficiency together, from the start. Farnell’s Full Picture Packaging approach is built around exactly that — treating every dimension of your packaging as connected, not separate.
Purpose-Built for Seafood
For seafood producers, showing the product is part of selling it. Consumers buy with their eyes. The colour, texture, and visible freshness of your fish, shrimp, crab, or lobster is one of your strongest retail assets. The challenge is that most sustainable packaging films are opaque, forcing producers to choose between recyclability and product visibility.
Glacier™
That tension is exactly what our award-winning Glacier™ film was designed to solve. Engineered from the ground up for the seafood industry using advanced extrusion technology and premium resins, Glacier™ delivers exceptional clarity alongside the puncture and tear resistance that sharp-edged seafood demands, and it’s 100% recycle-ready. For premium seafood brands where presentation is as important as protection, Glacier™ removes a trade-off that producers shouldn’t have to make.
For producers with specific sustainability targets, Farnell offers additional film options including post-consumer recycled and compostable formats. Over 60% of consumers say they’re willing to pay more for sustainable packaging (McKinsey). The right sustainability move strengthens your brand and your retail relationships, and we help you find the path that doesn’t compromise performance to get there.
The Right Format for Every Application
Farnell’s seafood packaging solutions are available across a range of formats to suit your product, production line, and retail requirements. Whether you’re running a high-speed automated line or a semi-automated operation, and whether your end destination is a grocery shelf, club store, or foodservice account, there’s a format that fits.
Our senior packaging engineers bring decades of experience to every project. They conduct site visits, review your machine workflows, and run production tests to make sure any new format or material works on your existing equipment before you commit. We also offer logistics and warehousing services to help ease supply chain pressures and improve lead times, so packaging availability never becomes a bottleneck in your operation.
Suggested Products
Decades of Experience in Seafood Packaging
Farnell has worked closely with seafood producers for decades, from multinational firms to family-owned operations and private label brands. That depth of experience means we don’t just understand the pressures of your industry — we operate to the same food safety standards you do, from retailer requirements and cold chain realities to the regulatory standards that govern how your products reach consumers.
We hold IFS PACsecure and ISO 9001:2015 certifications, and we’re members of both the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership. These aren’t credentials we lead with for the sake of it. They reflect a commitment to holding ourselves to the same standards we help our customers meet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most recycle-ready films are opaque, which is a real problem when your product’s visual quality is a key selling point. Glacier™ was engineered specifically for seafood, combining exceptional transparency with the puncture and tear resistance that sharp-edged seafood demands. It’s 100% recycle-ready and built to perform in the wet, cold environments seafood packaging operates in.
Yes, but it requires the right approach. Farnell’s senior packaging engineers conduct site visits and production test runs before any transition to ensure new materials work on your existing equipment. We’ve managed these transitions many times and know where the pitfalls are.
Shelf life in fresh seafood comes down to how well your packaging controls exposure to oxygen and moisture. The right film structure, barrier properties, and seal integrity all play a role. A film that performs well in ambient conditions may behave differently in a cold, wet seafood environment. Farnell’s team evaluates your specific product and distribution requirements to recommend a solution that genuinely extends shelf life rather than just meeting a minimum standard.
Regulatory compliance is built into every solution we recommend. We continuously monitor requirements including food safety standards, bilingual labelling, species identification, net weight, and lot coding, and we factor compliance in from the start, not as an afterthought.
Start with a conversation. One of our packaging specialists will take the time to understand your current setup, challenges, and goals, then help identify opportunities and next steps.
