Amcor and pet food company Ge Wu An have introduced the Li Kou pet food cup, in a move described as the first commercial use of an inverted-cup packaging format in China.
The design centres on a bottom seal that allows pet owners to peel the pack, turn it over, tear it open and lift it so the contents drop into a bowl in one piece, without the need to scrape out remaining food.
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The pack consists of a polypropylene cup, a top lidding film and a bottom seal film.
Li Kou was created in response to issues linked to serving wet pet food from standard cans, including damaged pull rings, sharp metal edges and food left behind in the container.
Ge Wu An brand lead Liu Mengru said: “The development of this new product was driven by real pain points that pet owners face every day. We wanted to completely optimise the experience from opening to serving—so pets get complete nutrition and owners spend less time cleaning up, raising the everyday feeding experience from the ground up.”
The cup-and-film design provides a lighter option than conventional aluminium cans, with lower material use per unit and reduced transport weight.
Amcor said its Catalyst innovation platform connected the two companies at an early stage of the project.
Drawing on Ge Wu An’s knowledge of pet owners and the wet pet food segment, alongside Amcor’s packaging development capabilities, the companies spent more than a year developing the product for commercial launch.
Amcor Flexibles China marketing and product management director Jessica Chen said: “Through Catalyst, we work alongside customers from the earliest stages of development to turn ideas into commercially viable packaging solutions.
“Li Kou demonstrates how packaging innovation can help pet food brands differentiate through the consumer experience, from how a product is opened to how it is served.”
Last month, Amcor supplied Tiptree, the preserves and spreads business owned by Wilkin & Sons, with packaging films containing certified 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic for use in shrink film and pallet stretch wrap.
