TINS CANNED

By Stephen Hayward Consumer Correspondent, sundaymirror.co.uk 9/12/2007

Carton of soup (SM)

EXCLUSIVE Big stores to scrap them & use cartons

Tinned food is on the way out after nearly 200 years.

Old-style cans are being axed by Sainsbury's, who will be putting their own-brand products in rectangular cartons.

The supermarket says they are two-thirds lighter than cans and take up less space.

They are also more environmentally-friendly as they are made of wood fibre and easier to transport and carry home.

It could mark the end of canned food as several major food firms are already experimenting with other types of packaging.

Heinz baked beans are being sold in microwaveable pots for the first time, while Ambrosia have been selling custard and rice pudding in cartons as well as cans for some time.

Sainsbury's, founded in 1869, started stocking tinned food in the early 1900s and now sell 500 million cans a year.

Initially, the chain's own-label tins of chopped tomatoes will be replaced with the new-style cartons, which have a two-year shelf life and weigh just 18g compared with 50g for a standard-sized can. This will be followed next year by tinned fruit and other popular desserts.

Sainsbury's, Britain's third biggest supermarket after Tesco and Asda, say the cartons will revolutionise the way food is packaged.

A spokeswoman said the carton (endorsed by the Forest Stewardship Council, set up to promote "responsible" management of the world's forests) can also be recycled by 70 per cent of UK local councils.

"It's a world first and could herald the end of the tin can," she said. "It ticks a lot of boxes as it's environmentally efficient to transport, it's recyclable, it uses 33 per cent less space and it's easier to carry home than a can."

The new cartons are being made by Swedish firm Tetra Pak, whose former boss Hans Rausing became one of the world's richest men thanks to patents on the folding top design of their containers.

The move follows research showing that shoppers are switching to fresh and chilled food sold in pots and pouches.

While baked beans and tinned tomatoes are holding their own, sales of canned soup, vegetables, fruit and puddings - once a mainstay of the British diet - have declined over the last decade.

Four-packs of the new Sainsbury's cartons go on sale this week and singles will be launched in the New Year.

Tinned food producers admit the £1.7billion-a-year industry is struggling to shake off its old-fashioned image. But Steve Thomas, spokesman for industry body Canned Food UK, said it was adapting to changes in consumer lifestyle and taste.

He said: "Despite these changes, tinned foods are still an essential part of our weekly shop.

One of the world's best-known brands, Campbell's soup, immortalised by pop artist Andy Warhol, is being phased out by next March and renamed Batchelors by its new owners.

TOP TIN FACTS

Britain's first canning factory was opened in Bermondsey, South London, in 1812, when tins were opened with a hammer and chisel because the tin-opener wasn't invented until 1872.

Tinned dog food first appeared in 1922, and beer was first canned in 1935.

More than 2,000 Britons a year cut their fingers badly while opening cans.

Today's cans are made of 100 per cent recyclable steel with 1,500 are made every minute.

More than 20 billion cans are sold in the UK each year. The average person gets through 142 cans.

The nation's best-selling canned food is baked beans, followed by tinned tomatoes. Tinned soup is still popular - but many products, such as coffee, are no longer sold in tins.

More than 1.5m cans of Heinz baked beans are eaten in the UK every day.