Coding, Printing & Labeling

A heads up to food manufacturers

The proliferation of new food products in which botanicals and other novel ingredients are added to conventional foods prompted the Food and Drug Administration to send a cautionary letter.

March 31, 2001

Materials: Page 695

Secondary Packaging

Splenda's sweet on carton design

In November, McNeil Specialty Products introduced at retail a no-calorie sweetener called Splenda, a granular product packed into folding cartons containing either 1.9 or 3.8 oz, which it says offers the “sweetness equivalent” of 1- or 2-lb of sugar for baking or cooking.

March 31, 2001

Labels

Peaches and lemons pop on this label

Bold, colorful images on a full-body heat-shrink label are helping Essentia Water’s Aquess turn heads. A newly launched beverage containing water-soluble fibers, Essentia comes in a 500-mL (16.9 oz) bottle made of polyethylene terephthalate.

March 31, 2001

Additives, coatings & inks

Dynamic growth for O2 scavengers

Average annual growth of oxygen scavenger packaging products in the United States is forecast at a stunning 215% between now and 2003. That’s according to George O. Schroeder Associates (Appleton, WI), international consultants in flexible and rigid plastic food packaging.

March 31, 2001

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

Spalding pumps up b-ball packaging

Packaging for the new “Spalding NBA Infusion” basketball with built-in “Micro Pump” has a lot on the ball. Not only does the box use holography, a thermoform inside the top of the box highlights and protects the pump in its extended state.

March 31, 2001

Conveying & accumulation

'Gray' workers add black to Bonne Bell's bottom line

As this observer continues to move ever closer to “senior” status (already a veteran of several years with AARP), a talk with Jess Bell, vice chairman of Bonne Bell, Cleveland, OH, helps to energize both body and spirit.

March 31, 2001

Flexible packaging

A different kind of portal (sidebar)

Capsule reviews

March 31, 2001

Converting equipment

A different kind of portal

While e-marketplaces, hubs, exchanges and portals cling to dear life now that funding sources have dried up, we’ve seen the quiet emergence of another type of so-called portal: Call it the “information portal.”

March 31, 2001

Conveying & accumulation

Air cushions salve Omron's shipping wounds

Medical supply distributor switches from loose-fill “peanuts” to an air-cushioned void fill to satisfy customers and cut space requirements.

March 31, 2001

Flexibles

Sporty pouch a U.S. first

Wanting to make a splash in the sports drink category, Hydrade Beverage is introducing a 500-mL stand-up pouch with a PET/foil/PET/PE structure.

March 31, 2001

Flexible packaging

'Sprinting' to automated efficiency

New bagging equipment makes it easy for this California manufacturer to package its disposable travel toilet for either industrial or retail channels.

March 31, 2001

Flexible packaging

Kit Kat Bites the 'Junkyard Dog'

To promote the best use of company equipment, Hershey Foods annually recognizes the team that saves the most money. Two packaging lines for Kit Kat Bites won for 2000.

March 31, 2001

Contract packaging

Pepsi caps its cans

In response to consumer concerns about hygiene, Pepsi-Italy has begun thermoforming HIPS overcaps onto single-serve cans of its soft drinks.

March 31, 2001