Beverage

Will buzz about energy drinks impede growth?

Recent criticism over high caffeine and taurine content in energy drinks and possible links to high blood pressure and heart diseases could lead to a slowdown in the U.S. energy drinks market.

January 28, 2008

Industries: Page 443

Cartoning

Embedding robotic functionality in packaging machinery

Part 1 of a 2-part series explores the trend toward packaging machinery integrating purpose-built robotic capabilities.

January 21, 2008

Flexibles

Reclosable bacon package

Oscar Mayer makes bacon more convenient with its Stay-Fresh Reclosable Tray.

January 21, 2008

Prepared Foods

Continuous motion cartoner is operator friendly on frozen food line

The Pegasus Cartoner: Continuous motion, horizontal cartoner for erecting, loading, and closing glue or tuck style cartons at up to 120 cpm. This video from Econocorp shows operator friendly cartoning on a frozen food, ethnic entree packaging line.

January 18, 2008

Closures

Upscale glass jars reflect family pride

DelGrosso Foods chooses retro-look glass jars for its Italian sauces.

January 14, 2008

Feeding/inserting/unscrambling

Industry watch

January 11, 2008

Sustainability

Biodegradable void-fill

Ecologically designed packing peanuts from Starch Tech are 100% biodegradable and provide a sustainable alternative to cushioning products that end up in landfills.

January 11, 2008

Sustainable Packaging

Renewable produce packaging

Three new produce packaging designs available from Earthcycle Packaging all use palm fiber, a renewable resource that composts in fewer than 90 days.

January 11, 2008

Flexibles

Ovenable, peelable lidding

New Rocklid GP PET peelable, dual-ovenable lidding for foil containers is now available from Rockwell Solutions.

January 11, 2008

Additives, coatings & inks

Light stabilizers

Ciba has introduced Novel Encapsulated Additives Technology (NEAT) to enable equivalent UV protection in waterborne coatings as that of high-performance light stabilizers in solvent-borne coatings.

January 11, 2008

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Two-piece cup system

Spartech has introduced Packalloy™ Imagine 2-piece cup system, a container system for food products that combines high-performance plastic technology with the advantages of 2-piece convoluted mandrel forming.

January 11, 2008

Flexibles

Swedish ready meals maker goes green

Sweden’s Gunnar Dafgård becomes the first to use a new molded wood-pulp tray that offers dual-ovenability and sustainability advantages.

January 11, 2008

Flexible packaging

Combating product separation, contamination

Seasoning blends and dry mix specialist installs easy-to-clean flexible screw conveyors for more efficient product delivery to filling lines.

January 11, 2008