Science Platforms > Food
Packaging
Packaging Platform Mission: Provide innovative
solutions to packaging related issues, particularly those relating
to food safety. (Completed
Research Projects)
The Packaging Platform
group examines new food packaging innovations and assists in obtaining
regulatory approval for new applications. The staff has extensive
experience in dealing with all aspects of migration, food/packaging
interaction, and regulatory issues related to polymers and packages.
Food Packaging is a critical
technology in today’s world, working to address the ever-increasing
demands for convenience, freshness, ease, shelf life, safety and
security coming from all sectors—private, public, regulatory,
and academic.
The NCFST packaging platform
addresses and meets the needs of both the food industry and FDA
to develop safe, effective, innovative packaging; NCFST’s
collaborative relationship with FDA can expedite packaging approvals.
Packaging:
- Maintains the safety of
processed foods
- Addresses
the need of industry
for safe, novel,
and approved techniques
- Provides accurate, current
data to the FDA on
questions of regulatory issues
- Validates research innovations
- Assists
regulatory agencies
in their decision making
process
CASE STUDY: Package Integrity
Seal defects, such as
weak seals, pinholes,
and channel leaks, are
a major cause of leaks and package failure,
leading not only to reduced
shelf-life but also to
a possible public health hazard. Currently, package
leaks are inspected intermittently
using off-line methods.
These methods are labor-intensive,
slow, costly, and destructive. Therefore,
inspection methods for
detecting package leaks
in food industry are increasingly
moving toward non-destructive and on-line methods
that test all packages.
NCFST research is ongoing;
two projects which have
investigated non-destructive methods for testing packages
are infrared imaging
(IRI) thermography and
ultrasonic imaging (UI).
Results:
- IRI technique is a promising
non-destructive
method to detect defects in polymeric food packages
- seal quality of polymeric
food packages can
be non-destructively determined using the infrared imaging technique.
- seal quality
of flexible and semi-rigid
polymeric food packages can be nondestructively determined using the immersion
UI technique.
- an immersion UI technique
is applicable
for noncontact, non-destructive, on-line identification of most critical
defects
in flexible and semi-rigid polymeric
packages.
The information obtained
may be implemented
in industrial SQC (statistical
quality control) system
to enhance efficiency
in removing defective
packages, to reduce the risk of product recalls and
subsequent outbreaks, and to improve
the overall security
of the food supply.
Research and Development
Expertise
- Seal integrity assessment
- Tamper evidence development/assessment
- Measurement of migration
of organic
compounds in polymers
- Migration modeling of organic
compounds in
polymers
- Active packaging development/assessment
- Assessment of flavor scalping
- Determination of radiolysis
products
of irradiated food contact
packaging
- Impact of novel processing
methods
such as high pressure on packaging polymers
- Oxygen/moisture barrier
assessment
for polymers
- Polymer recycling research
dealing
with PET, HDPE and PP
- Modified atmospheric packaging
- Recycling
- Packaging to be used with
emerging
technologies such as Ultraviolet Radiation
and Pulsed
Electric Field
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