Stretching the limits of aseptic packaging

Low-acid dairy products aseptically packaged in plastic bottles are common in Europe. Will Morningstar bring such technology to the U.S? See in-plant video

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Bing Graffunder is president and chief operating officer of Morningstar Foods in Dallas, and his talk is as big as you’d expect a Texan’s to be.

“We think we’ll be first in the U.S. with an aseptic dairy product in a plastic bottle,” says Graffunder. “We decided nearly three years ago that as the largest dairy processor in the country, forwarding this technology was something that we should take on as a challenge. We also think a whole cornucopia of new products could emerge once this packaging technology is moved forward in the U.S.”

Morningstar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Suiza Foods, expects to launch an aseptically filled, shelf-stable, low-acid dairy product in a plastic bottle later this year.

In the meantime, the firm is gaining solid momentum and invaluable experience with an ESL packaging line that includes new equipment that began running late last year. The line is from Holland’s Stork, represented in the United States by Stork Food and Dairy Systems (Gainesville, GA).

Morningstar currently uses its Stork equipment in ESL mode to bottle 14-oz Hershey’s-brand milks and shakes that have a refrigerated shelf life of about 90 days. This line, in Mt. Crawford, VA, is made up of essentially the same equipment with which Morningstar will launch its shelf-stable dairy products once it has filed for and received permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to do so. Packaging World was invited recently to tour the Mt. Crawford facility.

Quickly evident upon walking into the plant is that Stork provided more than just filling equipment. It also made the ultra-high temperature tubular heat exchanger that processes the liquid product and the blow molding systems that make the three-layer containers.

So what is it about aseptic filling of dairy products in plastic bottles that makes Morningstar’s progress so notable? Low acidity. High-acid product aseptically filled in plastic bottles, fruit juices in particular, have almost become commonplace in the U.S. marketplace. But low-acid dairy products are inherently more difficult to pack in a shelf-stable format because potentially deadly bacteria that won’t grow in high-acid products will grow in an unrefrigerated low-acid environment if either processing or packaging fails to provide true aseptic conditions. So far no U.S. dairy processor has received from the FDA a letter of non-objection permitting the sale of a shelf-stable low-acid product packaged aseptically in a plastic bottle. That’s what makes Morningstar’s progress so noteworthy.

Blow molding

It all begins with coextrusion blow molding of bottles on two 15-station blow molders from Stork. Bottles currently used for ESL product are of a three-layer construction. Inner and outer layers are virgin high-density polyethylene, while the inner layer incorporates reground material trimmed from the neck and bottom flash of the bottles. To this reground material is added carbon black to block out UV rays that might threaten the flavor or nutritional content of Morningstar’s product.

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