New oxygen scavenging technology boosts PET packing performance
The Philadelphia-based company announced the FDA endorsement under Food Contact Notification (FCN) means the it now plans to begin selling its DiamondClear product for packaging almost all oxygen sensitive food and beverage outputs.
Barrier performance and clarity
Following original FDA approval in 2007, the company applied for a new FCN after developing new chemistry for DiamondClear technology to further enhance its barrier performance, clarity and recyclability, said a Constar statement.
“The new DiamondClear material exhibits a huge capacity for scavenging oxygen, enabling packaging features such as extreme lightweighting, multi-year product shelf life, robust empty bottle life, and a step change improvement for recycling,” a spokesman told FoodProductionDaily.com.
The company said DiamondClear's clarity, as well as its light weight and robust monolayer structure that eliminates the risk of delamination, makes it an attractive alternative to glass. This toughness allows for faster filling and labeling speeds, added Constar.
The firm said it had conducted extensive shelf life tests comparing DiamondClear to both glass and competing PET containers. At 24 months, PET containers with the new technology experienced little oxygen ingress—much like glass—while plain PET and many monolayer scavengers demonstrated substantial ingress. The ability to tightly control oxygen ingress enables PET containers with DiamondClear to keep products fresher, more vibrant in color and tasting better longer, said the company.
Lightweighting
Company CEO and president Mike Hoffman said the product answers market needs from both environmental and food safety perspectives.
“We have developed a PET technology that can deliver longer shelf life without compromising the clarity of the container. It mirrors the clarity and gloss of glass, and allows for the reduction of packaging weight to as little as one-tenth that of a comparably sized glass container. DiamondClear gives the marketplace a truly sustainable alternative,” he added.
