Tartex + Dr. Ritter GmbH recently launched its finest pâtés in a new plastic cup. The polypropylene cups have a multilayer structure containing EVAL™ EVOH resin as a gas barrier and Ciba^® SHELFPLUS^® O2 as an oxygen scavenger.

Four  companies with  the same objective In this project, four companies, Tartex + Dr. Ritter, the food manufacturer, Säntis J. Goldi, the packaging producer, EVAL™ Europe and Ciba Specialty Chemicals, the raw material suppliers, combined their competencies and knowledge to develop these new plastic cups.

Tartex + Dr. Ritter is a major vegetarian and functional foodstuffs manufacturer. “Tartex” is the leading brand in the German neuform health food shops and in specialised health food shops abroad for vegetarian meat and sausage alternatives.

Säntis J. Goldi handles all different manufacturing technologies, like extrusion, injection blow moulding and thermoforming, and has a wide array of standard products available, including barrier polypropylene containers for retort application.

EVAL™ Europe N.V. EVOH resins offer outstanding gas barrier properties and are mainly used as functional barriers in food packaging applications to preserve the flavour and the quality of the food from oxidation.

Ciba Specialty Chemicals offer innovative effects to the packaging industry to enhance the appeal, content protection, durability and performance of the packaging. One of their latest innovation, SHELFPLUS^® O2, is an oxygen scavenger that is incorporated in multilayer packaging for improved barrier performance and as a consequence for improved packaged goods protection.

Previous experience had shown a natural synergy between the oxygen scavenger SHELFPLUS^® O2 and the EVOH resin when used in combination in rigid polypropylene containers for retort-processed food. Because of their products synergy and as well the synergy of their competencies, Ciba Specialty Chemicals and EVAL™ Europe put in place an agreement to be able to combine their efforts and provide a full solution including the passive and the active barrier in multilayer packaging. EVAL™ Europe is the exclusive agent for SHELFPLUS^® O2 in Europe, Middle East and Africa. EVAL™ is the primary contact for the direct customers and provides technical assistance jointly with Ciba.

Validation of the packaging

Säntis ran a production campaign incorporating SHELFPLUS^® O2 in the PP/EVOH/PP sheet on existing equipment. Some cups were sent to EVAL™ to measure the oxygen transmission rate after retort according to the ASTM Norm.

In standard PP/EVOH/PP trays, the high temperature and moisture conditions found during the retort process saturate the EVOH leading to a drop in its barrier properties for a period of time after processing. In the PP/EVOH/PP tray containing SHELFPLUS^® O2 produced by Säntis, the measurements of the oxygen transmission rate showed that the barrier performance remained the same through the retort process and over a long period of time. SHELFPLUS^® O2 compensates for the loss of EVOH barrier properties during and after retort until EVOH recovers its original barrier properties.

In parallel, these cups were validated by Tartex + Dr. Ritter, and the results clearly showed that the combination of EVAL™ EVOH and SHELFPLUS^® O2 in the cups slowed down very significantly the oxidation process of the pâtés. The evidence is obvious as the discoloration of the pâtés were strongly delayed. The cups, PP/EVOH/PP with SHELFPLUS^® O2 closed with an aluminium lid, can guarantee a 24 month shelf life for the pâtés, satisfying all the Tartex + Dr. Ritter initial requirements.

Extending this successful experience

Based on these excellent results, Tartex + Dr. Ritter is now convinced of the advantages of such plastic cups and is willing to extend these cups for others of their food products. Säntis, confident of the high barrier performance of such packaging structures, has started a strong promotion of PP/EVOH/PP with SHELFPLUS^® O2 containers to their other potential customers.

For more information about SHELFPLUS^® O2, please visit our website, www.cibasc.com/packaging, or contact us.