Food

Vegetable production solutions

Demand for healthier, more convenient ingredients in packaging with a lower climate impact is growing.

Vegetables

Healthier ingredients and convenience are key considerations for the new generation of home cooks, particularly when it comes to packaged vegetables. Tetra Recart seals in taste, nutrition, and flavour in a robust, functional package, making it the perfect home-cooking helper.

Find new growth in prepared vegetables

Prepared vegetables volumes are rising

Global volumes of prepared vegetables are expected to reach 12.8bn kg by 2028, with the category growing 1.8% over the same period. This steady growth underpins demand for convenient, long‑life vegetables and creates room for new formats, mixes and meal solutions.

Source: GlobalData

Convenience reshapes home cooking

44% of global consumers say they are willing to spend more to save time, and many struggle to use fresh produce before it spoils. Ready‑to‑use vegetables that shorten preparation time fit these needs and can help reduce avoidable waste at home.

Sources: Euromonitor Voice of the Consumer: Lifestyles Survey, 2023; Dynata/Mintel, 2021–2023

Consumers turning to long-life vegetables

56% of consumers say they actively try to reduce food waste. Shelf‑stable vegetables with a longer shelf life and suitable portion sizes can support these efforts, especially when combined with packaging that aligns with expectations on use of paper‑based materials.

Source: Euromonitor Voice of the Consumer: Lifestyles Survey, 2023

Why choose paper-based cartons for vegetables?

Producers of canned vegetables must balance tight margins with growing demand for healthy shortcuts in the kitchen. At the same time, shoppers are watching prices, trying to cut food waste and paying more attention to packaging choices. Shifting from traditional packages to paper‑based cartons opens new ways to refresh vegetables ranges, simplify the value chain and advance your sustainability strategy.

1. Product and brand

Modernise your vegetables range:
Give vegetables a contemporary look that supports today’s healthy, convenient and value‑driven propositions, helping your range stand out in store and online.

2. On-pack communication

Make nutrition and usage clearer:
Use flat panels to highlight key nutrients, origin, dietary fit and serving ideas. Strong branding and clear information hierarchy help shoppers see how vegetables fit their meal choices.

3. Portion flexibility

Match portions to meals and households:
Offer pack sizes that work for small households and specific recipes – from side‑dish portions to larger formats – helping consumers plan better and reduce food waste.

4. Production & logistics

Simplify packaging and logistics:
Flat‑packed cartons reduce inbound storage needs and can enable more filled packs per pallet than cans in many configurations, improving handling and transport efficiency.¹

5. Sustainability and perception

Strengthen sustainability credentials
Paper‑based cartons use a high share of renewable materials and can support lower climate impact than alternative formats, as shown in comparative LCA for defined markets.²

6. Consumer appeal

Offer convenient, lighter packs:
Lightweight, easy‑to‑open cartons that are easy to empty, reclose and flatten after use align with consumer expectations for practical, user-friendly packaging and easy waste handling.

Strengthen your vegetables portfolio with Tetra Recart

Use Tetra Recart to rethink how vegetables show up on the shelf, on the screen and in the pantry. By combining our category and consumer insight with recipe development and packaging design support, we help you turn ideas for ambient and canned vegetables into finished concepts that are ready for launch, with managed risk and clear business cases.

People in workshop in customer innovation centre

Turn vegetable trends into concepts that sell

Identify where prepared vegetables can add most value – everyday cooking shortcuts, meal kits or private‑label staples. Using our market and consumer insight, we work with your team in our Customer Innovation Centre to shape concepts, formats and value propositions for real‑life cooking occasions.

Explore our Customer Innovation Centre⁠

Young people in kitchen cooking together

Prove your recipes in carton, step by step

In our Food Development Centre, you can formulate and run trials for vegetables in Tetra Recart under realistic processing and retorting conditions. Or borrow a mobile test unit to use at your own facilities, for refining product performance and gathering decision‑ready data before scaling up.

Discover the Food Development Centre⁠

Tetra Recart carton packages, generic designs

Make your vegetables range easy to choose

Leverage flat panels and six printable faces to showcase naturalness, ingredients, origin, nutrition cues and serving inspiration. Continuous designs across packs create a strong billboard effect that grabs attention in store, while distinctive carton graphics help your products stand out online.

Deep dive into package design⁠

Build efficient vegetables production with Tetra Recart

Bring canned vegetables into Tetra Recart cartons with compact, highly automated lines and proven processing know‑how. From handling delicate recipes to filling and retorting, we help you run stable operations with an attractive total cost of ownership compared with traditional packaging lines.

Match your lines to your growth plans

For large‑scale vegetables volumes, the Tetra Pak® R1 line offers fully automated, high‑speed filling of selected Tetra Recart packages to drive maximum throughput. When you need range breadth and frequent changeovers, the Tetra Pak® R2 line runs the full Tetra Recart size span, supporting mixed vegetables portfolios and agile production.

Find out more about Tetra Recart lines⁠

Kitchen at Food development center, tomato products

Rely on our expertise in processing vegetables

Our Food Development Centre specialists understand the characteristics of shelf‑stable vegetables. We work with you to configure processing, filling and retorting conditions for Tetra Recart, helping you secure consistent quality, food safety and yield from early trials through to full‑scale production.

Get access to food development specialists⁠

Cartons and cans, efficient distribution

Reduce the footprint of packs and pallets

Flat‑packed Tetra Recart material cuts the storage and handling required for empty packs. Once filled, the rectangular cartons enable efficient pallet patterns, helping you make better use of warehouse space and lower transport cost per unit and related emissions in many set‑ups.²

How we power your vegetables success

See how Tetra Recart helps you grow your shelf‑stable vegetable business faster. Our step‑by‑step overview explains how we support you from insight and concepting through recipe trials, package design, industrialisation and scale‑up in ambient vegetables.

Discover how we do it⁠

Green peas in Tetra Recart carton and fresh vegetables

customer case

The freedom of flexibility

Consumer-friendly packaging, attractive production costs, and most importantly a flexible format that suits many different products. These were the factors that prompted Watt’s, one of the leading food companies in Chile, to use Tetra Recart^® cartons for its wide array of vegetables, fruits and ready meals under the Wasil brand.

Sign-up and read the full story of the transformation from cans to cartons.

Wasil beans and vegetables in Tetra Recart carton packages

Vegetables in Tetra Recart carton packages

Formats and lines for shelf-stable vegetables

Get a quick overview of the Tetra Recart portfolio for vegetables – from 100 ml to 500 ml – and how Tetra Pak R1 and R2 lines help you run these sizes efficiently. The infographic also summarises key benefits for automation, convenience and e‑commerce.

Is your packaged vegetables production ready for the future?

As shoppers expect more convenience, sharper value and lower environmental impact from the products they purchase, vegetables producers need lines that can evolve. Moving vegetables into Tetra Recart can help you build a more efficient and adaptable operation, so you can keep improving performance as preferences and portfolios change.

Fresh vegetables and Tetra Pak Services offerings

Stay responsive as your vegetables range evolves

When demand shifts towards new mixes, recipes or private‑label specifications, we help you adapt with confidence. Tetra Recart lines and services support recipe changes, performance tuning and capacity upgrades, while improvement programmes focus on reducing waste and utilities. With Tetra Pak^® Advanced Agreements and tailored service packages, you gain assured performance, shared risk and greater resilience in your vegetables business.

Find out more about Tetra Pak  Advanced Agreements⁠

Peas in Tetra Recart carton and fresh vegetables

Reduce carbon emissions and boost sustainability credentials

Comparative life‑cycle assessments show that, for defined sizes and markets, Tetra Recart cartons can have lower CO₂ emissions than alternative packaging formats.² Using FSC™‑certified paperboard³ from responsibly managed forests and other controlled sources, together with space‑efficient transport, helps respond to consumer expectations for packaging with verified environmental performance.

What are the routes to market for vegetables in Tetra Recart?

Whether you are a co‑packer, brand owner or private‑label retailer, Tetra Recart offers flexible ways to bring packaged vegetables to market in paper-based cartons. Whether you choose own‑line investment or specialist co‑packing partners to balance speed, risk and capital, we help you build long‑term advantage in the vegetable aisle.

Vegetables in transparent carton packages

Co-packers: attract future-ready business

Expand your service offer by adding Tetra Recart to your packaged vegetable capabilities. A modern, paper-based carton format helps you attract brands and retailers looking to move beyond traditional packages, while flexible lines support multiple SKUs and fast changeovers.

Tetra Recart for co-packers⁠

Brand owners: de-risk the move to cartons

Enter Tetra Recart step by step – from pilot runs with experienced co‑packers to full‑scale in‑house production when volumes justify investment. Our support across product development, line design and start‑up helps you manage risk while building a differentiated packaged vegetables portfolio.

Tetra Recart for brand owners⁠

Shopping shelf stable vegetables in Tetra Recart cartons

Private-label retailers: build value and loyalty

Use Tetra Recart to launch private‑label vegetable products that combine strong value with a contemporary, paper-based look and feel. Working with selected co‑packers or your own lines, you can create distinctive ranges that stand out on shelf, support loyalty and protect margins.

Tetra Recart for retailers⁠

Explore what else Tetra Recart can do

Tetra Recart is not only a strong fit for vegetables – it is proven across a range of shelf‑stable foods. Discover how the same paper‑based, space‑efficient format can add value in other categories.

Baby food

Tomato preparations

Wet pet food

Soups

Beans

Fruits

Ready meals and ready sauces

^1. 12% more 390ml packages, and up to 50% more 100ml packages on each pallet and truck. Based on internal simulations comparing Tetra Recart to cans and jars of equivalent sizes.

^2. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Tetra Pak® carton packages and alternative packaging systems for beverages and liquid food on the European market, 2020

³. The FSC licence code of Tetra Pak is FSC™ C014047 - Tetra Pak FSC™ Certificate

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