The liquid food industry is offered a new concept for extended product shelf life and a new packaging solution that has proved successful in Europe, Russia and China.
CAPS, Controlled Atmosphere Packaging System, is a filling system which produces hygienic, hermetically sealed packages that can prolong the shelf life of liquid dairy products including pasteurised products. The new component is a protective gas that is added to the package during the filling cycle. The combination of a hygienic package, a 2.4sec opening-filling-resealing cycle and a controlled flow of protective gas guarantees an even quality of the filled product.
Developed in Sweden by Ecolean, the packaging concept is both revolutionary and well-tried. The packaging material, called Calymer, consists of 40percent calcium carbonate – natural chalk – and polymers, which simply act as the binding agent. This results in a material that is flexible and tough, perfectly adapted for packaging, but also a material that has exceptional environmental properties.
After disposal, the calcium carbonate is returned to nature and the binding agent is transformed into water vapour and carbon dioxide after complete degradation, by incineration, for example.
The Ecolean packages are manufactured and printed in accordance with each producer’s instructions and the hygienic, hermetically pre-sealed packages are then delivered on reels to the producer’s factory.
Also biodegradable, a new film is available from German-based Treofan, which has entered into an agreement with US-based NatureWorks to market its biodegradable film to food packagers. NatureWorks developed and produces polylactic acid (PLA), a material made from corn that can be used for food packaging. Treofan uses the PLA to make a packaging film branded as Biophan.
The switch to biodegradable packaging is being driven by environmentally-conscious consumers and recycling regulations, says Treofan, which adds that some in the packaging industry predict the market will grow by about 20percent a year.
This development is also being pushed by the recent escalation in the price of oil, which is bringing traditional petroleum-based polymers up into the same cost range as the previously more expensive non-oil based packaging. Food packagers last year faced price hikes of between 30–80percent for conventional plastics due to the increased cost of petroleum. With the increases, some bioplastics products reached full price competitiveness with the traditional oil-based packaging.
Frank Ernst, a commercial and technical manager for Treofan, says: “The company will promote Biophan as a film with extraordinary gloss and transparency, printability and good sealing characteristics. In an industrial composting plant, Biophan is completely transformed into carbon dioxide and water within 45 days. The recently issued German Packaging Ordinance, which gives preferential treatment up to 2012 to biologically degradable packaging, makes the film attractive to manufacturers in this country in particular.”
Treofan will produce about 250000tonnes of Biophan a year at seven production sites.
New film
A wrinkle-free pack film for confectionary products has been launched into the European market. Sealed Air says its Cryovac Adapt film has a low haze, high gloss finish. The film is made with a special formula that guarantees a wrinkle free pack and reduced sealing time, increasing productivity. It is a clear film that can be printed in any colour required and is available in three strength grades.
Adapt film can be processed on any shrink equipment with an output of up to 100 packs per minute and can be used to wrap light to medium weight items. It is highly resistant to tears and punctures and shrinks at low temperatures, so less energy is needed to run the packaging tunnel while it enables shrink wrapping of temperature sensitive products. The lower working temperature means less maintenance is needed on the sealing unit.
The products covered by these films have to be supported and a new range of trays and depanning suction cups has the added feature that they are made out of metal-detectable plastic.
UK-based E-Components and Chains is using the special plastic, called Detectamet, to manufacture a range of products used by the food industry. The plastic can be picked up by metal detectors used in food processing and removed from foods that have accidentally been contaminated either through human error or because pieces have been broken off.
Called Detectamet, the plastic helps manufacturers comply with the new EU hygiene regulations that came into force in January and could help prevent costly recalls of contaminated food products that have reached the market.
Plastic trays measure 285x230x50mm and weigh 240g. They are X-ray visible and chemical resistant. The trays can withstand temperatures from -30°C to 80°C. They are available in blue, red, green and yellow so that pieces can be seen by workers on the production line if breakage occurs.
Detectamet is approved for use as food-contact material in the US under the Food and Drug Administration’s EU90-128 regulation.
The de-panning belt suction cups are used in the food industry to lift products such as bread, cake and pastries out of their moulds. The company has also rolled out a line of metal-detectable plastic safety knives and pens adding to its range of metal-detectable hand scrapers and test sticks.
Food safety
A new tamper-evident bowl with a sealed lid, which can only be removed by breaking the tear flap and safety lock on the packaging, offers food producers a better way to ensure their products reach consumers securely.
Called DiamondBowl SureClose, the plastic packaging is ideal for green salads, chopped fresh fruit, pasta salad and other delicatessen products, according to its maker – Danish packaging group Plus Pack.
The firm says it has launched the packaging, made of clear OPS plastic, to reflect consumer demand for security. The tamper-evident principle has long been used in the pharmaceuticals industry, where the safety concept in packaging is predominantly made of injection-moulded plastic packaging.
Such new products benefit from new materials and a new polypropylene released on the market this week offers a combination of resistance to extreme temperatures and stiffness for a wide range of foods. It opens up the choices food companies have for sealing and displaying their products.
Denmark-based Borealis said its Borpact BC914TF branded grade of polypropylene expands the range of uses for the plastic into such applications as labelling and modified atmospheric packaging (MAP) trays for meat and fruit.
Peter Niedersüß, product development engineer for Borealis’ film unit, says: “By combining the
well-established properties of polypropylene heterophasic copolymers with especially good transparency and optics, Borpact BC914TF will ensure manufacturers achieve an attractive, high-quality finish to their packaging.”
Consumers will benefit from the convenience of new packaging types. These include easy-open pouches that replace tinned foods. The polymer can be used for food pouches, peelable lidding film and film bottle labels. Due to its stiffness and optics it can also be used to produce transparent, printed labels for bottles and printed sleeves used for fresh and frozen bread.
Its high seam strength means it can be used for retortable stand-up pouches while its high-heat resistance means it can be used as a peelable lidding film on microwaveable food containers.
Automation
A Spanish company claims to have developed what it calls the fastest robot in the world for the food processing industry.
Fatronik says the design for its Quickplacer robot can help food makers increase productivity by up to 20percent compared to existing packaging and processing techniques for small-sized objects. This will help the food industry, which is demanding greater automation in its processes, attempting to cut labour costs and trying to improve output as a means of bringing down costs.
The automation of manual processes significantly reduces associated errors and removes duplication of activities, ultimately increasing productivity and profitability.
The Quickplacer is designed for small-sized objects, up to 2kg, in varied packaging and placing tasks in the confectionery, bakery, fish, meat and vegetable markets. It can accelerate to 15G, enabling it to pick up and position over 200 items per minute.
The technical design makes the robot very flexible. It consists of four co-ordinated actuators or arms with four degrees of freedom, displacements along three translations and rotation on its vertical axis. The field of effect is a cylinder with a diameter of 1200mm and a height of 250mm. Its rotational capacity covers 200degrees, which enables positioning an object in any orientation or position.
The robot is equipped with a vision system capable of guiding its movements. This is available in both black and white and in colour and the software can locate the shape, orientation and position of products. Microprocessors can also co-ordinate the whole system with moving belts. This allows the robot to pick up a moving object and position it on a moving belt.
Fatronik says early applications include positioning chocolates in individually-shaped slots and packaging bars of chocolate, biscuits and peppers. Coupled with a colour vision system it can be used for quality control in the processing of vegetables. It can also be used for feeding various products such as fish or meat to flowpack machines.
