CMYK

C O VF EO RC S UT SO R Y

Barrier Packaging:
Essential for the Retail Success

The growing need for such thermoformable barrier sheets can not be ignored. Organised retail is here to stay and flourish. If such materials are not offered by the local industry, nothing stops the organised retail chains from importing them from their current sources
Sunil Jain
President, Rajoo Engineers, New Delhi

anywhere in the world.

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Introduction
Concept of barrier packaging materials is yet to gain momentum in India the way it should have. The variety in cuisines is as diverse as the country and its people. Indians, unlike many other Asians, still prefer fresh food over frozen or precooked food. With rising disposable incomes and DINK households (Double Income No Kids), cooking meals at home is taking the back burner or for that matter no burner at all! And this is precisely the reason, why the demand for high barrier packaging materials for packaging of food is poised to rise in the country to stupendous volumes in days to come. Barrier films were first introduced in the country for packing of long shelf-life edible oil. It took ages for this concept to be both technically and commercially viable. The fact, however, remains that it is now a success. Thanks to the perseverance of the flexible packaging material producers, FFS machine manufacturers and of-course, the edible oil producers. The market for barrier films and sheets for packaging of ready-to-eat or pre-cooked food will surely not witness such prolonged efforts and as a concept, it is already accepted. Thanks also to the revolution of the organised retail and also the availability of the packaging materials. It was always understood that such materials are only for packing of meat as happens in the Western and meat-eating countries but the scenario has changed and the advantages of using such materials even for vegetarian food is now being understood and accepted.

Retortable shelf stable barrier plastics offer a unique packaging concept on autoclaveable, reheatable and microwaveable plastic containers with outstanding performances on sensory and nutritive characteristics, a high abuse container resistance together with an attractive presentation.

Barrier Packaging Materials

Edible products need any or more than one of the following packaging materials: Films for use on FFS machines for solid

and liquid products Rigid thermoformed containers packed on FFS machines (with in-line thermoforming) or off-line packing in preformed containers Rigid retortable high temperature resistance thermoformed containers In this contribution, focus will be on the latter i.e. thermoformable barrier multilayered sheet for shelf stable rigid containers. Further, retortable shelf stable barrier plastics offer a unique packaging concept on autoclaveable, reheatable and microwaveable plastic containers with outstanding performances on sensory and nutritive characteristics, a high abuse container resistance together with an attractive presentation. Thermoformed containers of barrier materials consist of two components lidding material and the container itself. The food product needs protection both, from the top and the bottom, to attain the required shelflife. While the top lidding is produced on 5-7 layer blown film lines or from composite laminates, the bottom container is produced from 5-7 layer barrier sheets and then thermoformed in-line or off-line. Thermoformable barrier sheets have low oxygen or moisture transmission. They also help in preserving the aroma and odour. Such sheets not only offer barrier and chemical resistance properties, they can also be formed into many unique and generic shapes. Containers from barrier thermoformable sheets can also be hot filled.

Applications
Any product which is highly susceptible to oxidation or turns rancid or is not edible over a period of time, requires to be protected from the vagaries of nature and exposure on the retail market shelves. Some of those
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Shelf stable food from Rexham

Retortable bowls from Rexham

Retortable trays from Rexham

categories of products are: Dry fruits Dairy products Ready-to-eat food with curries Frozen food Ready-to-eat full meals Soups Sauces and chutneys Baby food The advantage of opting for thermoformable sheets is that any shape of container can be formed.

PVDC Tie resin PS The barrier sheet can have either of the following configurations depending on the final properties required: ABA ABAC CABA

Materials
The bulk layer of the co-extruded sheet is one of the so called mass polymers, which are mostly PS/EVOH/PS High barrier sheet - for Preserves, polystyrene (PS) or miniportions of cream for coffee, milk-based polypropylene (PP), from desserts, Suitable for modified atmosphere which PS is the most packaging (MAP).- Coexpan preferred one because of the ease of thermoformability that is necessary on Form-Fill-Seal lines. The use of PP is however, a necessity for t h o s e applications PP/EVOH/PP- High barrier for Meat products where high subjected to autoclave, cooked dishes, cooked PS/EVOH/PE High barrier sheet for, fresh or temperature meats, long-life fresh pasta, fruit preserves, cured cheese, sauces, fruit juice, compact sweets, resistance is sauces, pt...Suitable for modified atmosphere fresh desserts - Suitable for modified atmosphere required for packaging (MAP).- Coexpan packaging (MAP).- Coexpan retorting. Barrier is imparted by using Nylon, PVDC or EVOH. The barrier sheet is produced from any or a PS/PE/PS Medium barrier for combination of the Frozen foods, jellies, milk-based following materials: desserts, ice cream, pizzas, fresh PE cheese...- Coexpan PP Nylon EVOH
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CABAC ABCBD Typical barrier sheets contain either nylon or EVOH as the barrier layer e.g. PP/CXA/Nylon or EVOH/CXA/PP. It is necessary to use PP or PS to impart thermoformability to the sheet. Total thickness ranges from 300 microns to 1.5 mm depending on the size and depth of the final container. For certain dairy products stored in the chilled chain cabinet, additional techniques and procedures are employed to extend the shelf-life of such food. A typical example being certain kinds of cheese and curd, and a CO2/ Nitrogen mixture and a PS/Barrier/PE material.

Sheet Line
Typical setup of a barrier sheet line is as follows: 4/5 extruders. Conveying and gravimetric feeding system. Desiccant dryers. Cassette type / continuous screen changers. Melt metering pumps. Melt pressure and temperature transducers. Co-extrusion feed block. Flat sheet die with trolley. Three-roll inclined polishing roll stack. Trim station with rotary cutter. Trim grinding and collecting unit. Circulating fluid temperature control unit. Take off unit. Two-station centre winder.

Conclusion
Today, as a supplier of packaging material based on plastics, no contribution can be complete without addressing the environment issue. In general, multilayered plastic products are more difficult to recycle if heat sensitve materials or incompatible materials are coextruded. For medium and high barrier sheet extrusions, it is necessary to emphasize that the plastic sheets are all based on a major part of a bulk material (PS or PP) and therefore incompatibility upon recycling is not a major issue. In addition, thermal stability of all the components will not intefere

Three roll inclined polishing stacker 22

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Extruders typical 4 extruder five layer configuration

Two station winder

under normal processing conditions, excluding the PVDC containing materials

where specific techniques need to be used. Therfore, coextruded structures can be integrated in the recycling systems and will contribute to optimal reutilisation of materials. The growing need for such thermoformable barrier sheets can not be ignored. Organised retail is here to stay and flourish. If such materials are not offered by the local industry, nothing stops the organised retail chains from importing them from their current sources anywhere in the world.

TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
We solicit your Technical Editorial Contributions by the way of Case Studies associated
with a unique application, project or set-up. Adaptation to a new technology or process could also be the basis of your article. Please send in your articles, which could be considered for publication after evaluation. We request you to send it in duplicate along with detailed diagrams, photographs, sketches, tables etc. Kindly send us a soft copy for the text matter.
The Economic Times Polymers Times B2B, Bennett, Colemen & Co Ltd, The Times of India Building, Dr D.N. Road, Fort, Mumbai : 400 001. Tel: 24980271 Ext. 140 E-mail: b2bads@timesgroup.com

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