The best in the plastic packaging

FoodProcessing.com

Keywords: "plastic packaging," DuPont and "packaging innovations"

The annual DuPont Awards recognize global packaging innovations, including a polymer-coated steel bowl with peelable lid.

For the 18th year, DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers (www.dupont.com/packaging), Wilmington, Del., has honored innovation in plastic packaging with the DuPont Awards. While the awards span the packaged goods sector, food processing usually is the most heavily represented category.

Diamond Award winner “Crown Bowl Can with Peel Seam Peelable End.”

The awards honor not just the packaging but also the technology and processes, equipment and converters that create the end-use packages. Nominations are accepted from both packaged goods marketers and from companies directly involved in the creation of the packages.

Twenty-two international food and non-food packaging innovations received awards from among 111 entries. All of them use plastic to some degree. Only the food and beverage winners are included here.

The highest award given each year is the Diamond Award. This year’s winner was Crown Food Europe, a French affiliate of Crown Holdings Inc., and William Saurin, a leading French producer of ready-made meals. Together they came up with the “Crown Bowl Can with Peel Seam Peelable End,” a single-serving package consisting of a polymer-coated steel bowl and easy-to-open peelable lid, offering practicality and preservation properties.

William Saurin selected Crown’s bowl can due to its ability to be transported with consumers, meeting demands for modern “on-the-go” lifestyles and healthy meals, plus its enhanced shelf appeal. Food safety is achieved through retortable processing. Plus, the can is 100 percent recyclable.

Gold winners

• Nestle Baby Foods (France)
  (Nestle France S.A.S.; EDV Packaging Solutions, Spain)
  
  The challenge was to design a package that was attractive to both babies and their parents with the added benefits of being microwavable, lightweight and non-breakable. The five-layer thermoformed cups employ a PP/EVOH/PP sheet that is designed and coextruded using DuPont Bynel adhesive as a tie layer to withstand the high temperatures of sterilization for shelf life up to 12 months. The transparent containers are 100 percent recyclable.
  
  
• Stand-up pouch with built-in straw
  (Hangzhou Zhengda Printing & Packaging Co., China)
  
  Made with a film structure of DuPont Teijin PET film and Dow PE resins, the real novelty of this pouch package lies in its built-in straw. Being inside the package, the straw is protected from contamination and is easy to use. Building in the straw during pouch-forming reduces the processing passes, increases automation and reduces production costs. While the first application was used for soy breakfast milk in China, extension into other beverage packaging is under way.

Silver winners

• Bone-in shrink bags
  (Alcan Packaging, U.S.)
  
  Used for both wholesale and retail packaging, the ClearShield high-barrier, bone-in-shrink bag technology is a unique coextrusion of polyethylene, polyamide and EVOH that is oriented using a proprietary process. The combination yields a film with outstanding puncture resistance, clarity, barrier properties and ease of use for packaging bone-in meat products.
  
  
• Cook-in bag system
  (Curwood Inc., U.S.; Jennie-O Turkey Store Inc.)
  
  Jennie-O Turkey Store’s “Oven Ready” frozen turkeys go from the freezer to oven with no thawing or preparation required. The new two-part packaging system combines an inner cook-in bag (not manufactured by Curwood) with an outer carrier bag. The outer bag consists of a reverse printed polyester layer extrusion laminated to a rigid, white sealant. Curwood applies its proprietary IntegraScore opening feature vertically along one side of the package, which enables consumers to open the bag without scissors or knife, thus preserving the integrity of the inner cook-in bag. Additional bag features include a comfortable two-hole carrying handle, high-impact graphics and functional side gussets which allow the package to stand up and stand out in the freezer case.
  
  
• Esterpeel Qbag
  (FFP Packaging Solutions, U.K.)
  
  Innovative in both design and technology, Esterpeel Qbag offers a new packaging format that brings together the strength of aluminum foil with an innovative use of polyester heat-seal technology. By using a heat-sealed polyester window, the cook can see the process and peel back the window to stir, add ingredients or serve after cooking. The pack also works well in the oven, retaining moisture and texture for meats and vegetables.
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