Keep a lid on it
Packaging testing technology that will protect your products
The TFT Sealer trims, folds and tapes woven polypropylene bagging material to provide a sturdy, durable seal, yet is easy to open, according to Doboy Inc.
There is an increased awareness about the importance of pet food packaging integrity across many industries, and with the scrutiny heightening on ours, the pressure is on to invest in better quality inspection technologies that can be applied for both off-line testing and in-line automated inspection. Companies that keep using destructive test methods that were developed and approved for use decades ago should re-evaluate their process and investigate technologies that provide valuable data that will improve manufacturing processes, increase pet food safety and help reduce overall costs.
Consistency and reliability
According to Tony Stauffer, president of Packaging Technologies and Inspection LLC (PTI), packaging testing has changed over the past decade by becoming simpler, more cost effective and efficient. Most important is the fact that package integrity testing has become more reliable, thanks in part to high precision non-destructive inspection technologies coupled with a user-friendly approach.
There is a growing need for the development of rapid, non-destructive, non-invasive testing technologies. Some of the non-destructive test methods that address this are:
* Vacuum/ pressure decay;
* Airborne ultrasound inspection; and
* Force load testing.
These methods are not only reliable, but yield repeatable, quantifiable statistical test data. Because they are non-destructive, the same samples can be repeatedly tested, a greater number of samples can be tested and even the actual market product itself can be tested.
Other methods, like water bath, dye tests, and peel and burst tests, are simple to perform and require less expensive equipment, but are destructive to both package and product. These tests also produce test results that are dependent on technique, sample preparation and operator variability, making them more time consuming in the end. Not to mention results from peel and burst tests can be difficult to interpret or correlate to manufacturing process parameters, package quality or shelf-life performance.
Detection and inspection
According to Mettler-Toledo Safeline, processors and packagers in the petfood industry face certain unique challenges, including detecting contaminants, detecting damaged or missing products and identifying overfill and underfill. A presentation about x-ray technology and how it addresses these concerns is available for download at www.mt.com/xraytechnology. The presentation, entitled X-ray Inspection The Future of Packaging Inspection, explains the technology and its specific application to our industry, as well as demonstrates that x-ray provides capabilities not available in metal detectors or vision systems.
From cans and jars to pouches and bags, different packaging materials require different safety precautions.
Checking for seal integrity using Seal-Scan, an airborne ultrasonic inspection technology from PTI, is a fast, efficient, non-destructive method to verify seal quality and pinpoint type, size and location of seal defects, according to the company. The inspection technology is also capable of testing many different types of packaging materials, such as aluminum, foil, paper or a combination of materials.
Integrated packaging solutions
