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Aseptic filling sans sterilants

When a Colombian beverage marketer became the first to produce a packaged version of the popular Avena drink, the company used aseptic technology that was simple and secure.

When the lidding is peeled away from the cup, a thin layer of polyester remains behind (far left), exposing a drinking/pouring h
When the lidding is peeled away from the cup, a thin layer of polyester remains behind (far left), exposing a drinking/pouring h

If New Yorkers take a liking to Avena, a milk-and-oats-based beverage that will be introduced in the Big Apple this fall, they'll have aseptic packaging technology to thank.

The unusual drink hails from Colombia, where it's been a favorite of young and old alike for generations. Until recently, however, it was never available prepackaged. Made in the home or in small shops, it has always been served fresh and refrigerated.

Alpina Productos Alimenticios, a beverage marketer based in suburban Bogota, changed all that in 1994. That's when it introduced Avena in thermoformed cups filled aseptically on a Neutral Aseptic System (NAS®) from Erca Formseal, a French machinery manufacturer represented in North America by Autoprod (Clearwater, FL). The 250-g cups of Avena have proven so popular in Colombia and Venezuela that Alpina is about to install a second NAS aseptic system that will permit it to explore additional export opportunities, including New York.

Available since the mid-'80s, Erca's NAS machines are called "neutral" because they employ no chemical sterilants such as hydrogen peroxide or oxonia. Instead, the inside of the cup is essentially sterilized when the sheet is coextruded. In the Formseal system, the top layer is peeled off, exposing a sterile layer below. According to Alpina vice president of operations, German Tellez Diaz, the simplicity and security of an aseptic system that does not require treatment with and removal of chemical sterilants were the two factors that made the NAS system so appealing compared to other aseptic technologies.

The forming web is a four-layer coextrusion of polystyrene/ethylene vinyl alcohol/polyethylene/polypropylene. The PE becomes the food-contact layer, and its sterility is assured because of the high temperatures during coextrusion. The function of the PP layer that covers the PE is to keep the PE sterile indefinitely.

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Editors report on distinguishing characteristics that define each new product and collected video demonstrating the equipment or materials as displayed at the show. This topical report, winnowed from nearly 300 PACK EXPO collective booth visits, represents a categorized, organized account of individual items that were selected based on whether they were deemed to be both new, and truly innovative, based on decades of combined editorial experience in experiencing and evaluating PACK EXPO products.
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