Kobusch-Sengewald's New Packaging Film for Salad Extends Shelf Life
29 September 2005 13:03
Salad stays fresh even longer if its packaging is made of the new MAP film by the producer of flexible packaging films Kobusch-Sengewald. An advantage a well-known fast food chain is also benefiting from.
The shelf life of mixed salad has increased from five to seven days owing to the novel multilayer film of PE. At first glance this does not seem to be a great improvement, but from the logistic point of view every additional day is a benefit for manufacturers and consumers.
The new product development by Kobusch-Sengewald is a multilayer film of PE equipped with product-specific barrier properties. The secret of the success is to optimize the conditions in order to obtain the maximum shelf life for every individual component of the mixed salad. Carrots for instance require completely different conditions than iceberg lettuce. The latter is mostly used as an indicator for freshness, as the vegetable reacts to changes of the protective atmosphere quite sensitively: The stem gets a reddish tint. The new film provides ideal conditions regardless of whether the packaging is areated or whether the goods are partly vacuum-packed by the co-packer.
The film which consists of several layers can be processed on packaging machines with grooved, constantly heated tools. A temperature difference between the outer PE layer and the inner PE layer of around 20°C to 30°C has been conceived in respect of the sealing process. Therefore the film can be processed easily without the necessity of Teflon-coated tools.
The development has been initiated upon request of a well-known fast food chain. The original range of four different mixed salads had been extended by three further salad compositions having even higher requirements to barrier properties and accordingly to the permeability of the packaging films. The previously produced quality did no longer respond to the higher requirements regarding shelf life. The new film developed by Kobusch-Sengewald has successfully been adopted by the customer for more than twelve months now.
Kobusch-Sengewald is an international producer and processor of flexible packaging films offering special packaging solutions for food, techno-chemical, hygiene and medical products. All in all about 500 employees are working at the two production sites at Warburg and Halle/Westphalia. Kobusch-Sengewald belongs to the Pactiv group, a top ten manufacturer of sophisticated specialist packaging. Pactiv has subsidiaries in 14 countries with a sales of US$3.4 billion per year. The division “Flexibles”, Kobusch-Sengewald belongs to, is realising €120 million per year.
For more information on this company:
Kobusch-Sengewald - Flexible Food Packaging - Films, Pouches and Labels
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