The various plastic materials used by people for food packaging today are inert. They only use physical means to block the outside air from entering the interior of the packaging container, so that the packaged food remains unimpaired. However, they are incapable of holding oxygen or other harmful gases in the food due to flashes or encapsulation inside the package. Therefore, they are called passive packaging.
Some of the world's major additive manufacturers and packaging manufacturers are developing a new type of active packaging material, which is made by adding new oxygen-absorbing agents to traditional plastic films. This new film absorbs oxygen, ethylene, and other gases that are deteriorating from the food in the container. The new film is made of composite materials with other films with good barrier properties, which can greatly extend the shelf life of the packaged food. Food processors and packaging manufacturers are very interested in this kind of packaging material, but it has not been applied on a large scale. The main reason is that the cost is more than 10% higher than that of conventional packaging materials, and the benefits of extended food shelf life are difficult to estimate. . This is Active Packaging.
The so-called positive packaging means that the packaging food and the environment are coordinated with each other to produce the desired effect, and its role is to maintain the quality of the packaged food and hope all improvements. According to expert analysis, the prospects for the replacement of this material are very broad. For example, naringinase is immobilized on a polymer and used as an inner wall coating for grape juice packaging. The enzyme can make flavonones in fruit juices. Hydrolysis, which tends to result in bitterness, therefore, this packaged beverage can maintain a sweet taste for a long period of time.
The growth of microorganisms on the surface of foods is the main cause of deterioration. Antimicrobial packaging materials are now being developed. This kind of package can slowly release a kind of anti-microbial ingredients, which can greatly improve the food storage period and improve food quality. The packaging containers are generally sterilized prior to packaging and self-sterilizing packaging (self-sterilizing packaging) has now taken place. For example, the nisin that is being studied is produced by Lactococus lactis, and it is coated on low-density polyethylene film with methyl cellulose as a carrier, which has a very good antibacterial effect. Other antibacterial agents such as benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, salicyclic acid, potassium sorbate and propionic acid have been studied, some of which have been applied in edible coatings.
In 1997, a new generation of active packaging materials has been used for packaging containers in the inner layer, outer layer and lid and other parts. The new oxygen-absorbing agent it uses mainly contains metal oxides, supplemented with various oxidation promoters and fillers. All components are harmed to the requirements of food hygiene, and are made into the form of masterbatch. They can be directly added into the resin and extruded or made into composite materials. Australian Southcorp packaging Pymble Co., Ltd. uses organic oxygen absorbers such as ethylene glycol and phenol to copolymerize with packaging resin monomers to produce oxygen-absorbing copolymers.
Amoco has developed various Amosorb Series Oxygen Absorption Masterbatches for PP, PE, PET and Elastomers, both for heating and hot-fill food packaging materials and for frozen food packaging. All kinds of hard bottles, films, cap liners, etc. can be used.
At present, the market capacity of this new active packaging material is only 50 million US dollars per year. According to optimistic estimates of relevant people, by the year 2000, it will reach 1 billion U.S. dollars a year. It will face the competition of low-cost, high-performance traditional inert packaging materials, but the advantages of these two materials can complement each other and develop together.
Food is more and more complex and has many colors, and packaging must adapt. There are now "system integration" packages that use several packaging technologies simultaneously, such as modified atomsphere packages that can be sterilized by microwave ovens. Radiation disinfection, and can extend the storage period. Other new technologies for food processing and disinfection, such as high pressure, ultrasonic and magnetic processing, can be applied in packaging. Research work in this area is currently under way.
An analysis of the quality of China's transport packaging In modern society, the circulation of products and materials is an important part of economic activities. In order to ensure that the product is not damaged in the process of circulation and to facilitate storage and transportation, the overall name of the container, material, and auxiliary materials used in the product according to certain technical methods is called transport packaging. In addition to the quality of the packaging itself, the quality of the transportation package is also conditioned by the characteristics of the product itself and the environment in which the product flows. Therefore, it can be considered that the quality of transport packaging is a comprehensive reflection of the characteristics of the product itself, package design, and circulation environment.
In the 21st century, while China's rapid economic development, the degree of emphasis on packaging has become higher and higher, and many manufacturing industries have included packaging in the industry's development plan. However, due to various reasons, China's packaging is still at a backward level in the world, especially the quality of transport packaging is not optimistic, the following is an overview of China's transport packaging quality in recent years.
First of all, for the transport packaging design itself, many manufacturing industries in China do not have a perfect packaging design system. Many of them are based on perceptual knowledge, and there is no overall concept. Today, the design of transport packaging equipment in the world follows a common principle: the principle of standardization and serialization; the principle of containerization and enlargement; the principle of diversification and specialization; the principle of generalization and intermodalization; and economicalization and science Principle. The packaging of many domestic products deviates from this principle. Transport packaging design lacks standardized serialization. When it is used domestically and internationally, it has low circulation efficiency and many problems. Transport packaging equipment does not conform to the internationally-adopted integrated loading system in its structure and size design. Many products use a containerized packaging method, which has a low space utilization rate and greatly increases transportation costs. The design of transport packaging containers can not adapt to the characteristics of different products, the use of a single way. Transportation between domestic and international transport, transport packaging equipment and can not be universalized, water, land and air transport is difficult to achieve. At the same time, some domestic manufacturers do not fully consider the distribution process of packages during the packaging design, that is, the characteristics of loading, unloading, transportation, storage and transportation in the circulation process, resulting in an under-circulation of the entire package.
Then there is a lack of theoretical basis for packaging design. There is no theoretical guidance on the choice of packaging form and the selection of cushioning materials. Whether to adopt full cushioning or partial cushioning, how much and how thick is the area of ​​cushioning cushion? Theoretical basis. For example, in China’s home appliance manufacturing industry, many manufacturers even include some well-known brands. They either choose the product packaging method or follow the packaging of the original old model product, or copy the product packaging of other manufacturers in the same industry, and do not fully consider the product. Its own characteristics. As a result, the product has a high rate of market breakage. Most manufacturers, when they find that their product packaging problems, only remedial measures are taken, that is, a certain part of the product is found to have more damage, increase or thicken the buffer material in this part, not the overall Analyze and improve packaging. The consequences of this, although reaching the goal of solving the problem to some extent, increase the cost of packaging.
Secondly, the quality of transport packaging itself cannot be effectively controlled. Many manufacturers in China today lack an effective standard to control the quality level of transport packages themselves. Although most manufacturers also perform some tests on their overall packages after the new products are on the market, due to experimental projects and test strengths The irrationality of the product caused the product to still have a high breakage rate during the actual circulation. In addition, there is also lack of effective quality control for packaging materials. Many manufacturers do not have a certain amount of regulations for their use of transport packaging materials to control their materials, and do not even know which performance parameters to specify. Many unqualified transport packages are not caused by unreasonable designs, but due to material properties that do not meet the requirements. For example, some of China's well-known household appliances industry and some communication industries have poor packaging materials quality, and the quality of some packaging materials is far lower than the quality level of international packaging materials. The lack of scientific choice in packaging materials is also a serious problem in domestic companies. Lack of understanding of new international materials, some green environmental protection new buffer materials such as pulp mold, honeycomb paperboard, waste paper recycled materials, etc. have not been widely adopted in China.
The distribution process also plays an important role in the quality of transport packaging. From the production plant as a starting point, the entire process that takes place between the consumer and the end is called the circulation process. Broadly speaking, it includes the transportation, transit, handling, storage, display, and sales of goods and packaging. Among them, transportation, transit, loading and unloading, and warehousing are defined as circulation environmental conditions, that is, all external factors experienced by the package during its transportation and circulation. As far as the transport link is concerned, the causes of damage to the package of goods are: impact, vibration, climatic conditions and other factors. The impact and vibration are determined by the means of transportation. Now China's mode of transportation has achieved three modes of transportation: water, land and air, but its dominant mode of transportation is still concentrated in road transport, rail transport and ship transport. Due to China's national conditions: China's poor road conditions, rail joints are not close enough, the engine vibration is greater, the vehicle shock absorber performance is poor, the ship's mechanical performance is not enough. The impact energy and vibration energy of the package during the circulation process are relatively large, and the potential risk of damage is high. China has a vast territory. Long-distance transportation of goods often experiences different climatic regions and is affected by climate factors such as cold, hot, dry, humid, and wind and rain. However, due to the improper structure of many long-distance transportation packages in China, weak materials, and tight closure, etc. It is common for the contents to deteriorate or damage. In the process of loading and unloading, most of our products are manually loaded and unloaded in the circulation field because of the low degree of mechanization. During the loading and unloading process, brutal handling phenomena such as throwing, stamping, kicking and kicking are extremely common. Many products can be mechanically transported in the course of their internal circulation and from the finished product warehouse to the transfer warehouse. Even if they are handled manually, there are few cases of rough handling. However, from the transit store to the product storeroom in the store and from the storeroom to the hands of consumers, the savage loading and unloading phenomenon is extremely serious. Especially in China's home appliance industry, many of the damages are found in this process. Porters often raise products from the library, and when they are loaded on delivery vehicles, they often appear brutal, trampling, kicking, etc. phenomenon. At the same time, because of the backwardness of transportation tools, different goods are often sent by the delivery truck, and often occur due to irregular stacking, resulting in collisions between packages, as well as collision and friction between the packaging and the inner wall of the carriage. Damage to the product. In the storage link, due to the unreasonable architectural structure of many warehouses in China, light, wind, rain, insects, mold, rodents, dust, toxic gases and other undesirable phenomena often occur, resulting in product damage. In terms of storage methods, there are also problems of stacking weight, height, storage period, and storage locations that are not scientific enough. In order to save floor space, some warehouses often pile up the product, or even higher than the stacking height of the package itself, causing the bottom cargo package to bear the heavy pressure of the upper cargo after stacking, and thus the deformation of the packaging container occurs and the package is affected. Security.
From the above analysis, it can be seen that although China's product manufacturing industry has developed rapidly, the quality of the product's transport packaging is still very backward. Since the reform and opening up, the transportation and packaging of products has received extensive attention. The quality of transport packaging has been greatly improved since the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China, but there is still a large gap with the level of international development. With China's accession to the WTO, the pace of convergence with the international community is growing. We should proceed from the packaging design of products and the improvement of the circulation environment at the same time, steadily improve the quality of transportation packaging, and create a good product transportation environment.