Switching from glass to PET slashes freight costs for Claude's Sauces
A new packaging line at Claude's Sauces runs the first PET bottles designed to handle hot products and generates 90 percent less broken or damaged bottles than the previous glass line. Additionally, due to the standardization to 16-oz from a mix of 12- and 16-oz bottles, production changeover time has gone from four or five hours, down to less than one. Read more...
Boutique bottling
Determined not to use chemical preservatives for its new energy shots, The Healthy Beverage Co. works with a local copacker and an international bottle supplier on a hot-fill process for tiny pet bottles. The Healthy Beverage Co. sells iced teas, sparkling teas and energy drinks that are USDA-certified organic and Fair Trade-certified. These drinks are sold under the Steaz brand and are accessible to a wide range of consumers worldwide. Read more...
Newsbytes
How to spur innovation in recycling
At the SPC's annual spring meeting last month, it was evident that the discussion of sustainable packaging has expanded its focus to the post-consumer side of the supply chain. The first day of the meeting focused on end-of-life issues, reflecting the coalition's evolution from an emphasis on packaging design toward a greater recognition that the current U.S. recycling system and lack of sorting technology is a barrier to the effective recovery. Read more...
Elevated BPA levels in people drinking out of plastic bottles, study finds
Participants in a recent Harvard university study who drank only out of plastic bottles containing bisphenol A for a week showed an almost 70 per cent increase in concentrations of the chemical in their urine. Previous studies have shown BPA can leach from a container to its contents. But the Harvard researchers say their study, published Thursday in online version of Environmental Health Perspectives, is the first to show an increase in urinary BPA after drinking solely from receptacles containing the chemical. Read more...
Legislation introduced to relieve labor crisis in agriculture
Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act (AgJOBS), which would reform the broken H-2A seasonal worker program, provide farmers with the stable, legal workforce they deserve, and offer a pathway to citizenship for hard-working, law-abiding immigrants already employed on American farms. Read more...
Suntory to dress bottled drinks in razor-thin labels in green push
Suntory Foods Ltd. will introduce a 10 per cent thinner product label on its nonalcoholic beverages coming in 500ml PET bottles with the aim of cutting down carbon dioxide emissions by roughly 10 per cent. The thickness of the label, made of polystyrene, has been reduced to 45 micrometers from 50 micrometers. Read more...
Are packaging chemicals safe? Toxicologists say risks are overstated
A groundbreaking new survey of scientists specializing in toxicology calls into question the risks associated with many of these chemicals as they are routinely depicted in the media. Majorities of toxicologists rate most government agencies as accurately portraying chemical risks, but they rate leading environmental activist groups as overstating risks. Furthermore, the study shows that WebMD and Wikipedia are seen as more reliable than traditional news sources for information about chemical risks. Read more...
Harkin, DeLauro introduce federal restaurant menu-labeling initiative
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) has introduced legislation requiring that nutritional information be displayed on chain restaurant menus and vending machines. The introduction of their legislation, the Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) Act, will take the success that has been made at the city and state level with respect to menu labeling to the national level. Read more...
Regulatory developments
Senate confirms Obama's pick for FDA chief
The Senate confirmed President Barack Obama's pick to oversee food and drug safety, two areas that are vital to consumers and widely seen as in critical need of improvement. Dr. Margaret Hamburg, a bioterrorism expert, will be sworn in as the 21st commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and only the second woman to hold the post in 100 years of agency history. Read more...
New products
Labeling system
Model 1600 front-and-back labeling system features an integrated coder that adds a lot/date code and/or a bar code to one label, a vision system for label inspection, a scanner that verifies bar codes on the front label and a pneumatic reject station. Read more...
Labeling Systems, 201/405-0767. www.labelingsystems.com
Tray packer
Model 206 tray packer loads cartons, bottles, single packs or multipacks into full-height, half-height or end-panel display trays at speeds up to 30 trays/min. Read more...
A-B-C Packaging Machine Corp., 800/237-5975. www.abcpackaging.com
Thermal-transfer printers
The new H-427 and H-436 Series of thermal-transfer label printers are appropriate for high-volume printing and are available in 203 or 300 dpi. The printers feature a full backlit LCD display, a standard real-time clock, 450-m capacity and a sensor for strip-and-peel or tear-off applications. Read more...
Tharo Systems, Inc., 330/273-4408. www.tharo.com
Resource Center
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Switching from glass to PET slashes freight costs for Claude's Sauces
Boutique bottling
