neilmac Oct 2, 2016:

Charles is right I do translations for a bimonthly food industry magazine (fruit and veg) and "packaging formats" are very much common parlance among the professionals.

Charles Davis Oct 2, 2016:

Ah! I asked because just this week I've been doing a website for a company producing deep frozen vegetables, and they use "formatos" a lot, referring to the presentation (type of container, packaging, size). For example, "Flexibilidad: adaptación de productos y formatos" or "soluciones a medida en formatos y envases". I used "formats", having found that it seemed to be current in corporate-speak in the food business. For example:

"there’s a significant need for packaging that can shield preservative-free liquid products from spoilage – especially in bulk formats from one quart to 350 gallons or more [...] distribution and transportation logistics, formats and time frame"
http://www.brandpackaging.com/articles/85554-bag-in-box-and-...

And you find "retail formats" and so on. I agree that customers in the supermarket would probably not use it, but in your context the terminology of the business might be acceptable.

S Ben Price (asker) Oct 2, 2016:

Charles - It does make sense, but I found nothing to support this usage. Trying to make it sound natural. The greengrocer doesn't ask, "What format would you like?", they just ask "How many eggs would you like?.

Charles Davis Oct 1, 2016:

@Ben May I ask why you have ruled out "formats"?

S Ben Price (asker) Oct 1, 2016:

This is referring specifically to the different products available (carton, case, box, etc.), not to a marketing presentation or entry into the marketplace. It is talking about what you can buy, you can buy 6 eggs in a carton, or 360 in a case, 1200 in a pallet, etc.