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Meeting packaging needs 
In response to increasing demand for food and drink packaging services, our packaging laboratory was fully refurbished in 2007. Demand for our services in packaging have seen a significant increase, and the new facilities are enabling a more integrated range of tests to be carried out. Seal integrity, for example, is a major area of interest as it is vital to ensuring that packaged food is safe. Understanding how manufacturing affects seal integrity and how this integrity can be measured, are an essential part of end-product safety and quality assurance. Both seal formation and integrity measurement are being explored with the help of the new facilities. Heat sealed products examined include trays, bags and pouches, and flow-wrapped packs, whilst both latex and latex-free cold seals have been investigated. With trays, for example, it has been shown that flat, curved and reduced seals are equally effective with retortable polypropylene trays, whereas for CPET trays a flat seal was most effective. Cold seals were found not to be particularly effective with regard to permeability and ideally should not be used for products which are sensitive to moisture or oxygen, though latex based seals were more effective than latexfree cold seals. For measuring seal integrity we compared vacuum and dye based tests. We also evaluated equipment from three different suppliers. The performance of the detection method was pack-dependent, emphasising that understanding what aspect of integrity was being measured and how, is essential if meaningful results are to be obtained. This work is part of our growing portfolio of projects and services in the area of packaging and food-packaging interactions. For example, the new laboratory also houses equipment for permeability testing of films and packs, as well as for supporting the provision of advice, guidance and testing services for a variety of food packaging. It will also facilitate practical packaging demonstrations for clients and for our packaging related courses, and will accommodate equipment that will be acquired for new methods and service development. Contact: Alan Campbell |