The Cryovac Freshness Plus Odor Scavenging system contains a mix of additives in a multilayer film that can trap confinement odours in the substrate and take them away from the product, Scott Beckwith, marketing manager for Sealed Air’s Cryovac Food Packaging told FoodProductionDaily.com.
“A key part of the consumer’s experience with a food product is the first impression when opening a package,” he added. “This can be a defining moment for the decision to purchase a product again.”
Odour eating
The packaging has been targeted at the processed cheese and meat market, particularly poultry-based products. The material contains additives that scavenge various sulphur and aldehyde volatiles from the food package to maintain freshness and aroma, said the company.
“This technology prevents product shrink by eliminating the disposal of products before the ‘sell-by’ or ‘use-by’ date due to off-odours," said Beckwith.
He added that work was underway to quantify average improvements in both product shrink and odour scavenging for individual foods as advances varied between products.
Run on existing rollstock
Use of the odour scavenging system presents a number of benefits both in terms of processing and distribution, said Sealed Air.
The technology can be incorporated into a wide variety of packaging formats but currently is only offered in bags and rollstock films. The material requires no additional activation step, so can be run on existing rollstock, thermoforming and vacuum chamber equipment, said the marketing chief.
For processors, the extended timeframe to maintain perceived product quality allows for new or wider distribution channels, he added.
The company also claimed the system is both safer and more economical than separate sachet options.
“This technology is incorporated into the film and is not a foreign object in the package that can be ingested or mixed in with the product,” said Beckwith. “These scavenging components are part of the film while the addition of a sachet increases the amount of packaging being used.”
The system is currently available in the US only. Sealed Air Cryovac said it was unable to provide any information to FoodProductionDaily.com about a future European launch.