Why attend:
Few of those working in the food and packaging industries have had formal education in food packaging. Decisions about which polymers to choose or what the effect on shelf life will be if a change is made in package dimensions or polymer type are often based on trial and error or intuition. This workshop is an attempt to fill that gap with respect to plastic packaging by discussing the basic principles behind polymer selection, deteriorative reactions in foods and shelf-life. The properties of the newer biobased polymers such as PLA and PHA will also be discussed.

Who:
Product developers, packaging technologists, R&D staff, food scientists and technologists, technical sales representatives and researchers in the food and packaging industries.

Workshop tutor:
The workshop will be taught by Dr. Gordon Robertson. Gordon was Foundation Professor of Packaging Technology at Massey University where he taught food packaging courses for 21 years. He then spent 11 years with Tetra Pak in Asia. He is now an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland and a consultant in food packaging based in Brisbane, Australia.

Learning objectives:

• To understand the properties of the key plastic polymers available for food packaging
• To comprehend the major plastic processing methods
• To appreciate the key deteriorative reactions which determine end of shelf life
• To solve food packaging challenges in package design and plastic material selection
• To justify and appraise package design and plastic material selections as related to shelf life.

For more information and the workshop programme click here (pdf)

Related training
Food packaging - an introduction
Active and intelligent packaging - Conference
Distance learning with the Open University and CCFRA

For further information or to check availability contact the Training Department on +44 (0)1386 842104
or