ZeroPrep replaces squeeze-bottle preparation with ready-to-use pouches, targeting labour, hygiene and product-yield challenges in commercial kitchens.
Sealed Air is bringing its CRYOVAC® brand ZeroPrep hand-dispensing pouches to food service operations, offering pre-filled packaging designed to reduce the preparation and cleanup associated with squeeze bottles and other rigid containers. The format combines an easy-open seal with a resealable spout for dispensing condiments and sauces by hand. The move matters because it places packaging design directly into the day-to-day workflow of restaurants, where speed, storage and sanitation are operational concerns.
ZeroPrep is positioned as a back-of-house alternative to transferring condiments into secondary containers before service. The pouches remain hermetically sealed until first opening, which Sealed Air says helps reduce opportunities for contamination during preparation. They are also intended to simplify storage and enable one-handed operation, linking the packaging format to the practical demands of busy food service shifts rather than to presentation at the point of sale.
The pouch system is designed to deliver condiments and sauces through a semi-rigid spout that reseals when not in use to help prevent drips. Sealed Air says product yield can reach up to 97%, while the pre-filled format is intended to support freshness and flavour consistency during a shift. The pouches are available in sizes from 8 to 16 fluid ounces and are produced on the CRYOVAC® brand ZeroPrep vertical form-fill-seal system, which can run at speeds of up to 80 packs per minute.
The system brings together two specialised CRYOVAC® films to form the pouch, easy-open seal, spout and hermetic seals. That combination makes ZeroPrep both a packaging product and an equipment proposition, extending the offer beyond a replacement container to the machinery used to produce it. For operators, the claimed benefits centre on fewer preparation steps, more streamlined dispensing and reduced handling before service, although the source materials do not quantify adoption or savings across restaurant operations.
Sealed Air will display the ZeroPrep pouches and vertical form-fill-seal system at booth S-2844 during PACK EXPO International 2026, scheduled for October 18–21 at McCormick Place in Chicago. The product sits within the company’s food and beverage packaging portfolio alongside CRYOVAC® brand food packaging and Liquibox® brand liquid systems. Its significance is therefore narrow but practical: it shows how packaging suppliers are addressing labour-intensive kitchen routines through integrated formats that combine dispensing, sealing and production equipment.
