Sustainability

No-label look hits PET bottles

For 17 years The Body Shop's hair, bath and fragrance products have been filled in HDPE bottles. Now PET is taking over, along with a disc-style closure and a no-label look.

July 31, 1996

Coding, Printing & Labeling: Page 317

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Net weight check

Eleven food industry groups have asked FDA to speed issuance of a "uniform, science-based standard" for verifying the net weight and quantity of packaged goods.

July 31, 1996

Coding, Printing & Labeling

FDA proposes additional warning on some OTC drug labels

The Food & Drug Administration wants an additional warning on over-the-counter (OTC) drugs containing phenylpropanolamine (PPA), a common ingredient in weight control, cough-cold, allergy and nasal decongestant drugs.

July 31, 1996

Closures

Inverted margarine squeezes easy

Van den Bergh Foods, Lisle, IL, has introduced a truly user-friendly container for its Country Crock® and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter® squeezable margarine products.

July 31, 1996

Sustainability

Delaney nearing revision

The longstanding battle to reform the decades-old Delaney Clause, which prohibits the use of any carcinogenic additive in processed food, is moving forward in Congress.

July 31, 1996

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Bar code label printer

Tharo Systems (Brunswick, OH) has introduced the Orion point-of-use thermal-transfer bar code label printer. Well-suited for applications where space is limited, it has a footprint measuring 8" x 10.1".

June 30, 1996

Additives, coatings & inks

Resin identifier

The Plastics Group of America (Woonsocket, RI) has introduced a unique teaching and specification tool called The ResinKit(TM). It is available to help molders and plastics specifiers establish the identity of unknown resin samples.

June 30, 1996

Additives, coatings & inks

Automotive product containers

Plastic Bottle Corp. (Libertyville, IL) has introduced offset- and center-neck oblong bottles. They can be filled to either 32-oz or 1-L capacity for both international and domestic distribution.

June 30, 1996

Blisters/clamshells/skin packaging

Vend packs turn to new materials for new markets

Designed initially for vending sales, a new material blend permits skin-packed frozen Mini Meals for microwave heating to expand into diverse outlets.

June 30, 1996

Coding, Printing & Labeling

NutraSweet drum labeler keeps on ticking

Pity the printer/applicator that must withstand NutraSweet Kelco's Augusta, GA, aspartame plant. The artificial sweetener used in diet soft drinks is a granular substance that creates a harsh, dusty environment that's brutal on packaging equipment.

June 30, 1996

Labels

Gatorade shrink label satisfies the need for speed

Roll-fed labeler combines adhesive and shrink application to provide the look of a shrink label, the tamper-evidence of a neck band, and the speed of a wraparound.

June 30, 1996

Coding, Printing & Labeling

Chernin's uses labels of another color

Color on-demand labeling does not necessarily have to mean dedicated color printing hardware or costly color ribbon media. Chicago-based shoe retailer Chernin's Shoes has been producing color thermal labels since January with nothing more than a standard direct-thermal label printer.

June 30, 1996

Flexibles

Bowling them over in the produce aisle

The latest innovation from Tanimura & Antle is a line of single-serve fresh-cut salads packed in a thermoformed bowl. Refrigerated shelf life is two weeks.

June 30, 1996