When Commitment Earns Applause: The SAVE FOOD Initiative Honors the Winners of the 2026 SAVE FOOD Awards

A round of applause for ideas with a global impact: As part of interpack, the international SAVE FOOD Initiative presented the SAVE FOOD Awards 2026 yesterday. The awards recognized projects that demonstrate the potential of smart packaging, innovative processing, and systemic thinking—not only for businesses, but also for society, the climate, and global food systems. After all, every instance of food waste prevented represents a gain for resources, the environment, and sustainability.

Through the SAVE FOOD Awards, the international SAVE FOOD Initiative recognizes outstanding solutions that effectively reduce food loss and waste throughout the entire value chain. The focus is particularly on innovations in processing and packaging that have a measurable impact and have proven themselves in practice.

The competition has a clear mission: to promote the responsible use of food and resources worldwide. This ranges from improved agricultural methods, more efficient logistics, and smart processing and packaging concepts to greater awareness in everyday life and political responsibility. The award-winning projects make it clear: sustainability is not an abstract goal, but arises where technology, design, and responsibility come together.

In the SAVE FOOD Design category, awards were given to solutions that address the entire value chain—from innovative materials and new technologies to comprehensive end-to-end concepts. The international jury was particularly impressed by the solutions’ high practicality and their demonstrable contribution to reducing food loss and waste.

With ReKeepEat, Grupo Lantera replaces traditional multilayer packaging with a 100% monomaterial, resealable PET solution. It keeps food fresh longer, is easy to recycle, and is fully recyclable—an important step toward reducing waste and conserving resources.

The Click-In Sealing Lid combines a sealing film and snap-on lid in a single-material click system. This significantly improves recyclability, saves material and reduces carbon dioxide emissions, while also providing secure, resealable protection for food.

Real-Time Spoilage Detection makes spoilage visible before food is thrown away: A cost-effective sensor detects loss of freshness in real time via a color change—building trust and reducing avoidable food waste throughout the entire supply chain.

The Sustainability Design Award recognizes products, machines, systems, and services that measurably reduce environmental impact and carbon footprint—for example, through material efficiency, recyclability, ESG strategies, and regulatory compliance.

The sustainable form-fill-seal packaging technology, based on a pure polypropylene monomaterial, makes cups, lids, and in-mold labels fully recyclable—without requiring fundamental changes to existing production processes.

Behind this innovation lies a solvent-free, 100% recyclable mono-PP retort pouch that withstands high temperatures, safely sterilizes food, and actively reduces food waste through extended shelf life and portioned use.

The award-winning pilot project is developing an edible primary packaging system based on fruit leather technology for frozen honey yogurt. It combines the utilization of food scraps with the replacement of plastic packaging—thereby reducing food loss and waste along the entire value chain. The piloted cone-shaped format is scalable and exemplifies the integrated SAVE FOOD approach of avoiding plastic where it is generated.

The awards ceremony once again highlighted the role interpack plays as a platform for future-oriented topics. Companies, startups, NGOs, and international organizations came together to raise awareness of responsibility and share solutions. The SAVE FOOD Awards 2026 not only recognize technical excellence—they stand for a commitment. And for the conviction that sustainable innovation is already a reality today.