11 Feb 2010 --- Hefestus says it has successfully cracked the code for extending the shelf life of fresh sushi with its breakthrough SLB (Shelf Life Booster) technology.

As one of the fastest-growing light-meal and snack trends, fresh sushi's main challenge to producers and retailers is increasing its shelf life with the goal of fewer returns and discards of expired products, and significant profit increases.

Sushi producers and marketers continually seek ways to increase sushi freshness. Hefestus’ SLB technology makes it possible for sushi lovers to enjoy fresh sushi at home with double the shelf life and zero compromise on appearance, taste and mouthfeel. By using SLB technology, sushi producers can guarantee twice the shelf life, but without using any preservatives that detract from the healthy image of the product and prevent a clean label application.

Packing sushi with Hefestus’ proprietary packaging technology provides cutting-edge benefits both to consumers and marketers. Its packaging machines enable maximum versatility of trays and packaging sizes, and quick set-up times between different product types and different trays. Further advantage lies in easy clean-up and operation—crucial in ready-meal packaging lines, especially those utilizing fresh fish. Importantly, use of this system allows for significant expansion of the geographic marketing area thus increasing overall sales of fresh sushi products.

“We anticipate a growing demand for our packaging solution systems in 2010 due to this breakthrough in the sushi-on-the-go category,” says Oded Shtemer, president & CEO of Hefestus. “This is the most comprehensive packaging solution in the market, enabling sushi suppliers to maximize sales and profit of this extremely sensitive product.”

Hefestus, Ltd., specializes in providing advanced solutions for extending shelf-life of fresh cut fruits and vegetables via its SLB technology (Shelf Life Booster). It develops and manufactures a wide variety of standard and custom-made top-sealing packaging machines, from manual to fully automatic lines, to meet the complex packaging requirements of processors and consumers.