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Packaging - Articles and news items
Latest issue, Supplements / 5 January 2012 / Jos Oostendorp, Packaging Specialist, Royal Grolsch Brewery / Josef Kerler and Luigi Poisson, Aroma and Taste Modulation Group, Nestlé Product Technology Centre / Jim Wilson, Director Product Commercialisation, Coca-Cola Refreshments
Has the role of packaging changed? (Jos Oostendorp, Packaging Specialist, Royal Grolsch Brewery)
Understanding coffee aroma for new product development (Josef Kerler and Luigi Poisson, Aroma and Taste Modulation Group, Nestlé Product Technology Centre)
Taking a closer look at soft drink processing (Jim Wilson, Director Product Commercialisation, Coca-Cola Refreshments)
Featured news, News / 7 November 2011 / GL Events
Founded in 1997, the CFIA Rennes is back on March 13th , 14th and 15th 2012 for a new edition that keeps all its promises and which is already nearly full.
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Industry news, News / 15 June 2011 / John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Harmful mineral oils from the printing inks used on cardboard can migrate into food if recycled cardboard is used for food packaging. It may contaminate food even if the recycled cardboard is used for the corrugated card transport box that holds individual packs. In tests on experimental packs of fine noodles, researchers in Zurich, Switzerland, found that food rapidly absorbed 10 times the recommended limit for concentration of these contaminating oils from the transport box. The findings were published in the latest edition of Packaging Technology and Science.
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Industry news, News / 17 May 2011 / Bosch Packaging Technology
Save Food: Over three years ago, Bosch Packaging Technology began to take some measures against this waste of food and resources. In India, the company used truck-mounted packaging machines, which had been specially adapted to local conditions, in order to demonstrate the benefits of packaged food to farmers, as well as to the authorities. The farmers soon realized that it made sense to package their harvest. Each year, an additional 100 machines come into operation.
The Bosch Group wants to help ensure that, in the future, less food perishes on its way to the consumer. This is why the Packaging Technology business unit is taking part in the international “Save Food” initiative, which was initiated by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the food and packaging industry and the Düsseldorf Trade Fair Center. At present, over a third of all food is wasted globally as it travels from the field to the plate. In emerging countries like India the amount is over three-quarters. The initiative wants to ensure more diligent handling of available foodstuffs and to look for solutions so that less food is wasted. “Only a joint effort will succeed in combating today’s massive waste of food,” said Friedbert Klefenz, president of Bosch Packaging Technology. (more…)
Industry news, News / 16 May 2011 / Crown Holdings, Inc.
To add excitement to packaging and make products pop on store shelves, CROWN Speciality Packaging Europe, a business unit of Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCK) (Crown) (www.crowncork.com), launches its new HoloCrownTM holographic foil technology. A first for metal packaging, the technique allows holographic images to be stamped directly on decorative metal tins, helping brand owners capture consumer attention and minimize the risk of product counterfeiting. (more…)
Issue 2 2011 / 13 May 2011 / Emma Hanby, Innovation Advisor, Campden BRI
Food packaging is core to managing the delivery of innovative, safe products to the consumer. The consumer has an increasing awareness of the impact of packaging on the environment. With the advent of the Courtauld Commitment to reduce the amount of packaging materials being sent to landfill, an increasing number of companies are exploring routes to lightweight material or are using alternative materials. The Courtauld Commitment is a voluntary agreement between major UK supermarkets and the Waste and Resources Action programme (WRAP). It aims to reduce household waste by achieving reductions in packaging waste growth and identify solutions to reduce food waste.
In 2010, we saw Asda trial reusable packaging for fabric conditioner, Sainsbury’s move from cans to combibloc cartons for its Basics range of canned tomatoes, Nestle remove plastic inserts from Easter Egg packaging, Stella Artois launch a lightweight glass bottle and Waitrose use flow wrap packs for minced beef. We also saw the move to wine in pouches and PET bottles, cereal without cartons and milk in bags. (more…)
Issue 2 2011 / 13 May 2011 / Kata Galić, Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology,
University of Zagreb
Food contact materials (FCMs) comprise a broad and complex area, using many different types of materials and articles, as well as many different chemical substances such as additives in the materials and articles. The intent of packaging is to maintain its function of protecting the integrity, quality, freshness and safety of foods from the manufacturing plant through transport, shelf life and storage.
With the tremendous variety of plastic packaging materials available today, there are many possible combinations. The simplest structures may consist of just one or two layers. The more complicated structures can easily exceed eight layers, including all of the components such as primers, inks and tie layers. (more…)
Industry news, News / 10 May 2011 / Integrated Marketing Solutions
Consumers prefer glass as a packaging material for food and drinks, according to a pan-European survey by independent research consultancy InSites. Reflecting the growing desire among consumers to live a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, glass is preferred because it preserves the taste of its contents, is considered to be healthy and safe; and – since it can be recycled endlessly – is very environmentally friendly.
Consumers prefer glass as a packaging material for food and drinks, according to a pan-European survey by independent research consultancy InSites.
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Issue 5 2010 / 4 November 2010 / Nathalie Gontard, Valérie Guillard, Miguel Mauricio Iglesias, Stéphane Peyron & Sana Raouche
Joint Research Unit Agropolymers Engineering
and Emerging Technologies – UMR 1208 Montpellier
SupAgro, INRA and Salvatore Iannace, Institute of Composite and Biomedical Materials, National Research Council of Italy and Giuseppe Mensitieri & Ernesto Di Maio, Dept. of Materials and Production Engineering, University of Naples Federico II
In the last few years, the fast development of novel processing methods for food preservation to improve safety, quality and shelf life of packaged foods gave place to important gaps of knowledge that must be filled in the area of suitable packaging materials. In particular, in the European Project NovelQ (more…)
Issue 3 2010, Past issues / 30 June 2010 / Jan Bruecklmeier, Senior Aseptic Specialist, Nestlé
The effectiveness of packaging sterilisation devices in an aseptic filling system is often tested during start up and validation of the system. Some publications even classify the different aseptic filling systems with their average logarithmic reduction rate (ALR). According to different publications, the testing seems to be quite easy and the result is a precise parameter, characterising the process. But is this the truth? (more…)
Issue 3 2010, Past issues / 30 June 2010 / Jay Gouliard, Vice President Global Packaging, Unilever
Unilever is one of the leading suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods, with products on sale in over 170 countries. Our portfolio of foods, home and personal care brands is trusted by consumers the world over. On any given day, two billion people use our products. Unilever business and brands have impact at every stage of their lifecycle; in sourcing raw materials, packaging, manufacture, distribution, consumer use and disposal. Towards the end of 2009, we launched a new vision to double the size of our business while reducing its overall environmental impact across the entire value chain. (more…)
Issue 4 2009 / 12 December 2009 / Dr Lizhe Wang, Biomaterial Scientist and Dr Joe P. Kerry, Head of the Food Packaging Group, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork
As traditional food packaging materials show shortcomings in terms of their environmental pollution impact and in their manufacturing requirements for non-renewable resources, the need for alternative packaging materials and packaging formats is now required more than ever. A major group of alternative and novel materials which possess future commercial potential are those derived from utilised and underutilised food ingredients, or food grade ingredients. Consequently, they provide packaging materials which are not just biodegradable in nature, but which are edible also, thereby presenting greater opportunities for commercial application in a more sustainable manner. Therefore, the potential advantages that such packaging materials have over more current conventional packaging forms used by the food industry are obvious.
To date, the majority of food packaging materials and formats consist primarily of laminates which can be comprised of plastics, metals and/or paper and glass. These materials are, and have traditionally been, manufactured and engineered for specific food packaging applications. However, consumer demands are changing with respect to food product purchasing and consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the presence, role and implications of the food packaging that surrounds their retail food purchases. Issues pertaining to sustainability, environment, ethics, food safety, food quality and product cost are all becoming increasingly important factors for modern-day consumers when purchasing food products and a number of these issues are also enforced by food packaging legislative regulations. Changes in consumer packaging demands are being informed by continual drip feeding of negative information pertaining to conventionally-used packaging. For example, reports1 claim that plastics formed 38 per cent of all food packaging materials used in the US last year and that most of this would end up in landfill or cause an environmental risk when processed in incinerators. The author also went on to say that only small amounts of the 38 per cent of plastic waste would go on to be recycled. (more…)
Issue 3 2009 / 10 September 2009 / Gauri S. Mittal, Professor, School of Engineering, University of Guelph
The presence of foreign bodies (FBs) in processed foods is one of the major concerns of the food industry, and their detection and identification are important in quality assurance and safety. An FB is any undesirable piece of solid matter present in a food product. When foods are manufactured or packaged, small foreign objects might end up in the product. For example, in the process of packaging food in glass bottles, occasionally fragments of glass are a result of shattering and breakage of the bottle top, and they find their way into the glass containers. Contamination can also be the result of metal scarf joints that originate from production equipment.
Bone pieces are found in ground meat and deboned reconstituted chicken products. Therefore, it is desirable that all FBs are detected and removed from products before they reach the consumers. Ultrasound-based measurement is a promising method because it has the ability to differentiate discontinuity of acoustic impedance between different regions within a given volume. In addition, it does not spoil foods physically or hygienically when used in non-destructive mode. FBs are different from food in terms of acoustic impedance, which is the product of density and sound velocity in a given food. Reflections, refractions and scattering take place due to discontinuity in acoustic impedance along the sound propagation path through the food. Many ultrasound propagation parameters such as attenuation/absorption, backscatter, velocity and nonlinearity are used. (more…)
Past issues / 7 June 2009 /
This issue features the latest industry news and forward looking articles including:
- The Clean Label concept
Anton J. Alldrick, Campden BRI - Modified atmosphere packaging: preserving meat quality
Myra Armson, BSc, Higher Scientific Officer, IFIS Publishing - Advertorial from Sealed Air
A true systems approach
Issue 1 2009 / 20 February 2009 / Hanne Larsen & Annette Veberg Dahl, Research Scientists, Nofima Mat AS
The consumers want to see the product they are purchasing. The shops use special lighting in order to sell more, at the same time as prolonging the opening hours. The price the consumer pays for the combination of increased light exposure and the desire to see food products is that the food can be deteriorated by the light. Dairy products develop off-odour and taste faults (‘sunlight taste’), meat products become grey, oily and fatty products turn rancid and vitamins degrade. However, the question is which light waves are most damaging for the food in the display cabinets?
Ultraviolet (UV) light is the short wavelength light ranging from 100 to 380 nanometres (UVC: 100-280 nanometres, UVB: 280-315 nanometres and UVA: 315-380 nanometres), while the visual light with longer wavelengths are in the range from 380 to 780 nanometres. UV light possesses more energy than visual light and its harmful effect on the human skin (UVB in particular) is emphasised when people are exposed to sunlight for long periods. It is a widespread perception that UV light is also the most harmful light in relation to lighting for food products and this is correct for some food products. However, to which degree are the food products exposed to UV light in the grocery stores? (more…)
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