IN Brief:
- Ahlstrom has commercially released Grease-Gard PLUS and PRO for North American quick-service and foodservice packaging.
- PLUS combines grease resistance with enhanced water holdout, while PRO targets applications requiring stronger grease resistance and heat retention.
- The two grades address different barrier requirements as converters seek fibre-based alternatives to wax-treated paper and foil structures.
Ahlstrom has expanded its Grease-Gard paper range with two grades for North American quick-service restaurant and foodservice packaging, separating applications that need additional water holdout from those requiring greater grease resistance and heat retention. Grease-Gard PLUS and Grease-Gard PRO are now commercially available through the company’s North American sales network.
Grease-Gard PLUS combines grease resistance with enhanced water holdout and is intended for wraps, bags, and other formats exposed to moisture or condensation. Ahlstrom describes the material as designed for recyclability and positions it as an alternative to wax-treated papers, while also emphasising converting performance, printability, and packaging integrity.
Grease-Gard PRO is aimed at hotter and more demanding applications, including sandwiches, burgers, burritos, and other grab-and-go foods. The company says the grade provides stronger grease resistance and heat retention and is intended as a paper-based alternative to traditional foil bags and wraps.
The distinction between the grades reflects a basic packaging problem: untreated fibre does not naturally provide the barrier performance demanded by hot, greasy, or moist food. Water can weaken the sheet, oils can migrate through it, and prolonged contact with hot food can test both mechanical strength and the coating or treatment used to protect the fibres.
Replacing wax, foil, or polymer-containing structures therefore involves more than changing the visible substrate. The paper has to pass through printing, coating, cutting, folding, bag making, filling, and distribution without creating unacceptable scrap or forcing slower production. Barrier performance also has to remain stable through actual use rather than only under a laboratory test.
Ahlstrom’s two-grade approach gives converters a clearer way to select material by application. PLUS is directed towards packs where moisture and condensation are prominent, while PRO addresses heavier grease exposure and thermal performance. That can reduce the need to specify every application at the same barrier level, although each finished pack still has to be validated against the food, temperature, dwell time, and converting process involved.
Quick-service and takeaway packaging creates particularly severe conditions because the pack may be filled with hot food, closed immediately, exposed to steam, transported for several minutes, and handled while still warm. Grease strike-through, softened paper, tearing, or poor heat retention becomes visible quickly, and a change in substrate has to withstand those conditions repeatedly.
Paper stiffness, surface friction, curl, coating consistency, print behaviour, and sealing characteristics also affect whether a new grade can run on existing converting or packing equipment. A barrier paper that requires a narrow operating window or frequent cleaning can be unattractive even if its grease resistance performs well in isolation.
Recent fibre-packaging development has concentrated heavily on this intersection between barrier chemistry and manufacturability. Zerocircle has demonstrated a heat-sealable paper coating for hot-drink cupstock, but its next test is full conversion into finished cups at industrial conditions. Ahlstrom is further along commercially with Grease-Gard, yet the same constraint remains: material performance has to survive the machinery that turns treated paper into a usable food pack.
Recyclability introduces another constraint. A fibre-based structure may look simpler than a foil or wax-treated pack, but its actual recovery depends on the coatings and additives used, the ability of mills to repulp the finished material, and the collection systems available in the target market. Designing a paper for recyclability addresses the material specification; collection and reprocessing determine what happens after use.
Ahlstrom’s wider Food & Consumer Packaging business gives the products access to an established customer base and production platform. The company reported 2025 net sales of €2.9 billion and around 7,000 employees, with food packaging forming one of its core speciality-material markets.
Regulatory and customer pressure is likely to keep demand for fibre alternatives high, but adoption still depends on cost and line performance. Foodservice packs are produced in enormous volumes, so small differences in paper weight, coating use, scrap, converting speed, and storage efficiency can have a material impact on unit economics.
PLUS now has to demonstrate that its added water holdout can replace wax-treated structures without making converting more difficult, while PRO has to deliver enough grease protection and heat retention to make paper credible in applications that have traditionally relied on foil.
Commercial availability moves that assessment into converter and customer trials. Those trials will show whether the papers can be printed, converted, filled, transported, and used repeatedly at production speed without exchanging lower use of wax or aluminium for poorer pack performance.
