1. Food Safety,
Flexible
Packaging,
and
Materials
Eric Tu
Oct., 2015

2. Agenda

3. As living standard
increased, people start
pursuing not only better
food, but also safer food.
Food Safety

4. In fact, packaging plays a
critical role in food safety,
but has been long a
missing link in value
chain
Food Safety

5. Therefore, mono
material can no longer
meet the critical
requirements to ensure
food safety for flexible
packaging
Food Safety

6. So How
Packaging
Materials
Affect Food
Safety ?
…

7. Is made of
laminated
structures
Flexible Packaging

8. How Packaging Materials
Affect Food Safety
B Migration of residual chemicals
B Insufficient barrier properties
B Packaging failure
B Loss of seal integrity

9. Migration of
Residual
Chemicals

10. Major Sources of Residual
Chemicals
Additives
Residual
Solvents
B Anti-oxidants
B Surface
Modification
Additives
B Other additives
B Solvent based
adhesives and inks
B Solvent removal
process is critical

11. Migration of Residual Chemicals

12. Sources of residual chemicals
Additives
Residual
Solvents
B Use only grades
approved for
food contact
B Use minimal
additives dosage
B Properly design and
operate solvent
removal apparatus
B Use Solventless or
Water Based
adhesives and inks to
ensure zero residual

13. Zero Residual Solutions

14. Insufficient
Barrier
Properties

15. Before We Start Talking
about Barrier
B
B

16. Importance of Barrier
Properties
Maintain Freshness
and flavor
B Cookies and Snacks
B Powder Foods (Salt, Milo,
Sugar…)
Prevent Spoilage
Retain Aroma
B Meats
B Ham and Sausages
B Sea Foods
B Coffee and Tea
B Chewing Gums

17. Commonly Market-Available
Barrier Materials
®™ Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow.

18. Comparison of Barrier
Permeability

19. Comparison of Barrier
Permeability

20. Barrier Properties
Comparison

21. Packaging
Failure
B
B
B

22. Packaging Failure
B Pin-holes
B Broken Packages
B Seal Failures
There are three packaging failures
commonly seen during transportation,
storage, and shelf displaying

23. Packaging Failure
B Pin-holes
B Broken Packages
B Seal Failures
Z
There are three packaging failures
commonly seen during transportation,
storage, and shelf displaying

24. Packaging Failure
B Pin-holes
B Broken Packages
B Seal Failures
There are three packaging failures
commonly seen during transportation,
storage, and shelf displaying
p

25. Materials with Better Abuse
Resistance
BOPP Films, BOPA Films, and BOPET Films are
commonly used as the mechanical/abuse layer
or print layer in flexible packaging

26. All PE are equal, but some are
more equal
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27. Loss of Seal
Integrity

28. Provide Seal Integrity
is Critical
Seal failure enables air or
other contaminants to leak
inside the packages, hence
get in contact with the
contents and causes food
safety issues

29. Possible Root Causes
for Seal Integrity
Failure
B Insufficient heat sealing
and hot tack strength
B Seal through
contamination issues

30. Sealant Selection Guide
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~
~

31. Seal-Thru
Contamination
If the contents are liquids,
powders, or pastes, then
the sealant surfaces might
be contaminated during
filling process, which
potentially causes sealing
failure

32. Seal-Thru Contamination
Measure the seal strength of the samples when the
sealing surfaces are clean
Apply a fixed amount of “contaminants” on the sealing
surfaces of the samples, Then measure the sealing
Strength
Calculate the ratio of the two measurements, the
higher the value, the better the seal-thru
contamination performance

33. Seal-Thru Contamination
Comparison
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%
%
%
%
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%
%
%

34. Summary
Packaging
Materials

35. Thank
You
Eric TU
erictu1965@gmail.com
in tw.linkedin.com/in/erictu0524
B
B
!
B