Food Packaging

Leading global provider of fiber-based consumer packaging Graphic Packaging International (‘Graphic Packaging’) is helping grocer New Seasons Market to build on its commitment to the highest levels of environmental stewardship.

The company’s PaperSeal® tray product – which was developed in partnership with world leader in tray sealing technology, G. Mondini – has been selected as a winning solution by New Seasons Market to replace the plastic clamshells currently used on the grocer’s Partner Brand Fresh Pasta.

Analysed and tested for maximum safety

While single-use plastic is being mostly avoided by environmentally conscious consumers, but such type of polymers still remain in circulation as food packaging items. The cellulose nano-material developed from raw cucumber waste by Professor Jayeeta Mitra and research scholar N Sai Prasanna at IIT Kharagpur has addressed this challenge of finding an environment-friendly substitute to food packaging materials, an institute statement said on Tuesday.

The team, led by professor Eran Sharon and Ido Levin of the Racah Institute of Physics, faculty of science, is pursuing commercialization of this manufacturing technique, which could reduce packaging and in turn carbon dioxide emissions for producers.

“Our shape-shifting pasta technology has the potential to transform the manufacturing, transportation and storage process,” Mr. Sharon said. “The potential of this technology is immense, and I look forward to seeing it outside of the lab ‘wowing’ consumers and providing a positive impact to consumer and business alike.”

Key points:

• Antibacterial texturing kills bacteria, extending food’s shelf life.
• Comes amid huge demand to improve the lifespan of food products, particularly for export.
• Texture can be scaled up for mass production.

The lab-made nanotexture from an Australian-Japanese team of scientists kills up to 70% of bacteria and retains its effectiveness when transferred to plastic.

More than 30% of food produced for human consumption becomes waste, with entire shipments rejected if bacterial growth is detected.

AmPrima™ PE Plus recycle ready solutions provide brand owners with innovative packaging that supports recyclability in categories that have been historically challenging. At the same time, AmPrima PE Plus innovation delivers highly durable hermetic edge and fitment seals that perform well under abusive manufacturing, distribution and usage conditions.

Amcor, a leader in responsible packaging design and development has engineered a high-barrier flexible film that provides superior heat resistance and is a more-sustainable alternative to standard metallized or foil-based structures.

“Conventional flexible food packaging often consists of several laminated film layers of different chemical natures. Each fulfils a specific function – one of which is the protection against oxygen,” explains Dr Ralf Büscher, Senior Expert Projects Flexible Packaging at hubergroup. “However, packaging that consists of several plastics cannot be recycled at all or only with great effort.”

Plastic plays a significant role in preventing food waste. It has an exceptional ability to keep out air, moisture and bacteria that can cause products to go off before they’re cooked or eaten. And it’s often the most efficient and cost-effective material to package food for transportation and storage.

In a recent survey by Boston Consulting Group of 15,000 people globally, 83% of millennial and Gen Z consumers said they’d be willing to pay more for products that came in sustainable packaging.