Is your packaging doing its job?

Packaging fulfils multiple roles in delivering the final product to the consumer - advertising its benefits, conveying legally required information, and maintaining its quality and safety. The overall integrity of the package, including the seal area, is vital to preventing microbiological contamination and resultant spoilage or safety issues. There are a number of tests that we can carry out, as Lynneric Potter explains:

"Seals are vital to many types of food packaging; however, the role of the seal will differ from one product to another. Depending on the type of package, it may need to have mechanical strength or hermetic integrity, or be easy to open. When designing new pack formats during product development, it is particularly important to keep food safety/ integrity in mind. It is also vital to know how seal strength may alter over time or during/after distribution. We can measure the seal strength of a range of pack formats, including pouches, bags, pots and trays using peel and tensile strength test equipment.

Under the microscope

We can also examine packaging materials microscopically, to look for faults in, for example, can seams, and perform microbiological leakage tests to see if ingress is actually occurring.

A recent member-funded project on seal strength and integrity testing threw up some interesting findings:

• Not all test methods are relevant for different packs
• Different test methods have different sensitivities for finding leaks in packs
• Increased temperature during sealing does not always produce a stronger seal
• Different test methods will give different seal strength results
• There is a lot of variability between seal strength amongst different materials

Our enhanced knowledge in this area means that we are even better placed to help clients, so if you have a seal issue, please get in touch.

Lynneric Potter
+44(0)1386 842237
lynneric.potter@campdenbri.co.uk