How end-consumer concerns drive raw material innovation in food packaging

Michaela Hofbauer*1, Lionel Spack3

*1 Eastman Chemical Company, Global Market Leader3 Nestlé Europe, Senior Packaging Expert

Passion for consumer trust

…in the performance of the product…

…versus the communicated promises

Consumer trustis the level of confidence

consumers have…

Source: Nestlé

But what if we start questioning…

“Is this food safe?”

“What is in this?”

“Is this package safe?”

“What chemicals are used to make this package?”

“Why does it smell funny?”

Relevant food packaging issues a 25 year overview

1991 1996 1997 2003 2005 2008 2009 2010 2012 2015 2016

Mineral oils in jute sacs

BADGE from metal coating

Mineral oils from printed paperboard

SEM, ESBO from metal closures

ITX from UV-printing

Benzophenonefrom printing inks

Bisphenol: A New National Legislation frameworks

TNPP: tris-nonyphenylphosphite in PE

Mineral oils from printed /recycled paper

BisphenolA from PC and epoxy lacquers

ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT ONE???

Mineral oils from printing inks

Source: Nestlé

Formulated Adhesive Company

Brand owner Retail ConsumerWaxes

Polymers

Resins (tackifiers)

AMS

PIPs

Gum Rosin

Pygas,C9 Resin Oil

DCPD

Adhesive Delivery

EquipmentPackaging Equipment

Additives

Packaging Converter

In a value chain that looks like this…

SubstrateManufacturer

(Carton, Aluminum)

Distributor

Coating/Ink

Contract packager

Distributor

Managing food safety: the value chain is a challenge

Chemicals

Base Materials

Finished Packaging

Food products

Monomers, pigments, antioxidants, UV-stability, solvents

Adhesives, inks, plastics, glass, cans, papers, boards

Complexity

Additional contributions of the different parts

Interaction between food and packaging

Knowledge of chemicals

Source: Nestlé

• Issue prevention• Set of standard

• Corrective actions• Agreement on limits in

packaging materials• Ban on substances

• Interaction with food• Sensorial requirement• Safety evaluation

• Benefit for consumers• Technical assessment• Safety consideration

New technologies

Material Development

Early WarningIssues

The technical partnership with pilot suppliers

Source: Nestlé

Case study:Tackifiers for packaging HM in the light of the European mineral oil

debate

How are Mineral Oils defined?Why are they problematic?

Mineral oils are complex hydrocarbon mixtures derived either from petroleum stocks, or synthetically from coal, natural gas or biomass. Mineral oils contain typically an

• Aromatic fraction: Mineral Oil Aromatic Hydrocarbons (MOAH)• Aliphatic fraction: Mineral Oil Saturated Hydrocarbons (MOSH)

Both fractions are giving health concerns for humans:• MOAH fraction may contain polycyclic aromatic compounds which are

carcinogenic• MOSH fraction may bio accumulate in the body; the impact on human

health is not yet fully clear

Selecting HM raw materials – Designing for safety

1. No mineral oil

2. Low odor –No cause for off taste

3. Low migratables –No chemicals in food

4. Healthy –No harmful ingredients, known toxicological profile

5. Clean –No impurities, NIAS (Non Intentionally Added Substances)

An impossible task for us as a tackifier supplier?

Tackifier resins typically contain a significant low MW fraction that might migrate into food.

Tackifier resins typically contain a multitude of substances, that cannot be identified individually.

Tackifier resins are giving false positive responses in typical European test methods for mineral oil!

How can we make sure that what we sell is safe in its intended application?

What can we do?

Keep quiet? Talk to our regulatory & legal

experts? Hide behind regulations? Blame our customers?

What we can do – Product safety

Toxicological testing Follow EFSA protocol for the

EU plastics regulation

Evaluate bioaccumulation with the help of pharmacokinetic studies on radio-labelled material

We evaluate the complex mixtures that our materials are as a whole

What we can do Support our customers with information

Compositional disclosure

While we cannot disclose all information in the public domain, we can still enable our customers and our customers’ customers to evaluate the risk of exposure.

Making sure all value chain players are able to investigate the possible migration of our products

Providing detailed information to the regulatory departments for their assessment

Think through and work with the value chain Through the value chain, our products

get exposed to processing circumstances

While we cannot guarantee quality throughout the value chain, we can anticipate on potential issues and communicate

Investigating factors like odor and composition after thermal exposure can help avoid surprises at the end of the value chain.

What we can do Anticipate problems

We created two new pure monomer grades with improved toxicological profile and stability, targeted for critical food contact applications Our Kristalex resins typically undergo several processing steps

before they are used in a food contact applications. We improved the stability of our material such that further processing is possible without significant effect on the quality of our product.

100°SP grade• Targeted at packaging HM

adhesives based on EVA and m-PE

140°SP grade• Targeted at heat seal

lacquers, TPE’s and specialty PSA

What we can do Innovate..

Food contact PMR resins – packaging grade

Food contact PMR resins – high SP grade

Advantages of new PMR resins for food contact applications

Very low residual monomers and solvent• Lower risk of migration, available toxicological information on

oligomers• Clearly different from mineral oil, easy to differentiate from MOAH• Residual monomer content on COA

Improved odor, low risk of influencing odor or taste of packaged food

Improved stability with lower risk of degradation during further processing in the value chain

Future Outlook

The global food packaging market will be growing at GDP plus over the coming years due to increased automation of food packaging and growth of packed food

High quality raw materials for packaging are growing significantly above that rate due to their low risk profiles

Collaboration across the value chain to warrant food safety and avoid packaging issues or recalls, will be key to the success of our industry

aliphatic aromatic H2HCR +++ +++ +++

PMR +++ ++ ++

C5 + + 0

C9 - - -

Rosins + 0 0 <------->

Color Odor Stability

<----------------><----->

<------------><------->

Compatibility

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