Live at interpack: Barrier Paper Replaces Plastic as nucao's Primary Packaging

This ambitious chocolate start-up now packages its products exclusively in paper, using a new barrier paper, Koehler NexPlus Advanced. It meets the demand for sustainable primary packaging for the food industry

Chocolate start-up nucao is shaking up the chocolate market, becoming what Koehler Paper says is the first chocolate manufacturer to embrace primary packaging made from paper. It launched chocolate products “nucao fruits” and “nucao nuts” in paper primary packaging at the end of 2022.

Koehler Paper says its flexible packaging paper Koehler NexPlus Advanced, used in this application, has an excellent oxygen, mineral oil, and grease barrier, which is necessary for applications where there is direct contact with chocolate and nuts. Making this switch enables nucao to meet a key consumer demand for greater sustainability and to lead the way in the chocolate market with how it chooses to package its products.

“We opted for Koehler NexPlus Advanced 75 g after extensive tests," says Mathias Schwarz, Sustainable Packaging Engineer at nucao. "In addition to product protection, which was assessed using storage tests with a subsequent sensory analysis, the fact that the paper could be recycled in the paper recycling was an important factor. Another important point for us was its rating of 19 out of a possible 20 points from the environment service provider Interzero.”