Bemis Receives FDA and USDA Approval to Market New FreshCase Film

Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE:BMS) announced today that it has received all necessary reviews and approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) that will allow it to sell its FreshCase® film for fresh beef packaging applications.

Bemis’ FreshCase® film offers customers a sustainable vacuum packaging solution which extends shelf life compared to most fresh beef packaging formats. This reduces food waste throughout the distribution cycle and improves inventory management capabilities for customers as well as retailers. Our FreshCase® film vacuum package uses substantially less packaging material than alternative packaging formats, thereby decreasing shipping costs and increasing efficient use of retail shelf space. This “freezer-ready” package also occupies less space in the consumer’s refrigerator or freezer.

Bemis will produce this new innovative film on existing manufacturing equipment and will begin to introduce this product to customers immediately. Since many customers will have to make modifications to their existing packaging lines to accommodate a new vacuum packaging format, Bemis does not expect meaningful commercial sales of FreshCase® film to begin until 2011.