Ongoing oil shortages are forcing some popular snacks in Japan to undergo a temporary makeover.
Familiar potato chip and cracker products are now in black-and-white packaging.
Major Japanese food maker Calbee are already temporarily selling 14 potato chip varieties in monochrome packaging as shortages of naphtha − a petroleum-based material used in production − continue to disrupt operations.
A popular shrimp-flavored snack, Kappa Ebisen, made its black-and-white debut at a Tokyo supermarket on June 01. The packaging no longer includes images of the snack itself. It only features the product name and an illustration of a shrimp. The package also indicates the modification is aimed at petroleum conservation.
Japanese manufacturer famous for their tomato-based products and vegetable juices Kagome have changed the design for their ketchup products by reducing the number of tomatoes on the packaging and even the transparent section was expanded to cut down on ink. The company said on their website that finding a substitute for the white ink, which is the base color for printing the packages, is difficult "due to printing compatibility".
Nisshin Seifun Welna stopped printing the cooking time on their spaghetti bundle tapes to conserve ink and proactively manage supply chain risks.
The decision by the flour and pasta maker affects the colored ink specifically used for these text details − cooking instructions remain printed on the main exterior packaging of the spaghetti.
This change is part of an industry-wide move in Japan to simplify packaging and reduce ink usage due to tightening supplies of the raw material for packaging ink.
No comments:
Post a Comment