Clamshells evolved

Thomas Jake Lunsford is credited with inventing the clamshell, although he called it a “Separable Packaging and Display System” when he filed for a patent on September 15, 1976. Clamshells look a bit like their namesake as they are made from two identical plastic “shells” that fit around the product and hinge on one side. When the sides are pressed together, snaps form a seal, some of them harder to unfasten than others.

Lunsford made no mention of using a heat seal on the edges to make clamshells impossible to open without tools. Scissors, even when they aren’t trapped in a clamshell, don’t work well on tough, slippery plastic. And, like boxcutters, they pose some risk of hand injury. Tin snips work better, but there is a tool whose only purpose is to open clamshells.

To help his 90-year-old mother open sealed clamshells, retired dentist Steve Fisher invented the battery-powered Zip-it Opener 10 years ago. It’s very popular with seniors, people with arthritis and others with diminished hand strength, Fisher said in an interview.

Clamshell packaging remains popular with retailers because the product is visible on both sides, it can be hung or freestanding, and it’s harder to shoplift since the package is bigger than the product inside. It’s much lighter than cardboard or other alternatives—saving energy during transport—cheaper to make, and more durable. The food industry accounts for more than 60 percent of all clamshell packaging.

“There’s a huge variety of clamshell and blister packaging, “ says Sara Greasley, who runs a popular blog about packaging and works in the industry.

Blister packs are usually a clear bubble of plastic mounted on a piece of cardboard. Batteries are still sold this way. But the terms are often used interchangeably, so it can be confusing, Greasley said. The type of clamshell packaging used is usually driven by the retailers, particularly volume buyers like the club stores (i.e. Costco) who have specific packaging requirements, she said. For example packaging may have to withstand shaking, crushing, and dropping tests to ensure there’s no damage.

FROM:National Geographic Partners

Frozen Food Storage: Keeping It Safe and Tasty

Got freezer space? We tend to keep all sorts of things in our freezers year after year. It’s time to go through that freezer and dump everything you aren’t going to eat in the next six months … like that trout you caught three years ago, or the loaf of bread you bought at the two for one sale last year (the one that now has ice crystals all over it).

Get beyond the newly packed items in the front of your freezer and there will undoubtedly be some surprises. It might not be pretty! In my case, I found a couple of apparently melted and refrozen syrupy juice bars and an opened bag of frozen peas that had spilled out long ago.

We need all the freezer space we can get because many of us are at the brink of freezer overflow on any day of the week. We’ve got ice packs locked and loaded for the occasional sports injury; frozen vegetables and fruits for when fresh is absent or unavailable; frozen entrees for when dinner or lunch has to “make itself”; and frozen desserts and appetizers for when your kids’ (or your) friends come around unexpectedly.

So what should you throw out? While the FDA notes that freezing can keep food safe almost indefinitely, that doesn’t mean it will still have a good taste and texture.

The Golden Rules of Freezing Meals
To prevent those unwelcome discoveries in the back of your freezer, it helps to know how to freeze foods wisely in the first place. Keep in mind that when you freeze foods, you want to accomplish five things:

Prevent freezer burn.
Prevent moisture loss.
Prevent the transfer of smells to and from other foods.
Use what freezer space you have wisely.
Prevent food poisoning as your food cools.

The key to accomplishing these goals lies in the proper wrapping and storing of your meals. Here are the golden rules for doing so:

Leave as little air as possible in the freezer containers by removing as much air as possible from freezer bags before sealing them and by using freezer safe containers that closely fit the amount of food being frozen.
Wrap meats and baked goods tightly with foil before you place them in freezer bags. Keep in mind that freezing meat in the packaging from the store (wrapped in plastic on Styrofoam trays) isn’t ideal and won’t hold up well to the freezer temperatures. You are usually okay if you use them within a month, however.
To make sure your food freezes as quickly as possible to discourage bacteria growth, use small containers — with a capacity no bigger than 4 quarts. Ideally, the food should be less than 3 inches thick within the container.
Cool your hot foods quickly before freezing them by placing the pan of hot food in a large container filled with ice or ice water, stirring often to keep the cold circulating. If you’re cooling a lot of hot food, like a large saucepan of stew or chili, portion it into smaller, shallow containers.
Label and date freezer bags or containers, even if you think you’ll be using the contents within a week or two.
Place the food items in the coldest part of your freezer, if you can, until they’re completely frozen.
Thawing food at room temperature only works with muffins, breads, and other baked goods. For everything else, thaw in the refrigerator or use the “thaw” setting on your microwave.
Try to use your frozen foods within two to three months.
When freezing dishes containing dairy foods, keep in mind that while milk can be frozen, it might separate a little when thawed. Hard and semi-hard cheeses can be frozen in 8- and 16-ounce blocks that have been wrapped in plastic, then put in freezer bags. While the cheese will still have its characteristic flavor when thawed, it could be a bit crumbly and tends to work best when added to cooked dishes. The cheeses that fare the worst with freezing are cream cheese and cottage cheese. Blue cheeses are most likely to become crumbly.

More than 200 people ill from parasite in Del Monte vegetable tray recall

(CNN)An outbreak of cyclosporiasis has sickened 212 people in four states since May, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Seven of those individuals have been hospitalized.

The outbreak is linked to the vegetable trays with fresh broccoli, cauliflower, celery sticks, carrots and dill dip. A recall of these 6-,12- and 28-ounce trays in clear, plastic clamshell packaging that contain these items was issued on June 15. The trays have a “Best if used by” date of June 17, 2018 and were sold at Kwik Trip, Kwik Star, Demond’s, Sentry, Potash, Meehan’s, Country Market, FoodMax Supermarket, and Peapod stores in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin have all reported illnesses. “The two cases from Michigan reportedly purchased the vegetable tray in Wisconsin and therefore Michigan is not impacted from this outbreak,” a statement from the US Food and Drug Administration said.

Separately, Texas health officials are investigating 56 reported cases of cyclospora infection since the beginning of May.

“DSHS [Department of State Health Services] is working with local health departments around the state and health departments in other states seeing an outbreak to gather information about the cases and determine whether there is a common source for the infections.” the agency said in a statement.

Health care providers have been asked to test any patients with diarrhea that lasts more than a few days or those patients with diarrhea who are also experiencing fatigue and loss of appetite. “Health care providers should promptly report cases so that public health can investigate them and attempt to determine the source in order to head off future cases,” the agency said and requested that individuals with symptoms should seek medical attention.

Cyclospora typically increases during warm summer months.

“Avoiding food or water that may have been contaminated with feces is the best way to prevent cyclosporiasis,” the CDC advises consumers. With that in mind, the agency recommends washing hands, counter tops, dishes and kitchen utensils with hot soap and water. Washing fruits and vegetables under running water before eating and cooking them is also recommended, as is using a brush. While it may be difficult to wash off the microscopic parasite, the heat from cooking does kill it.

By Debra Goldschmidt, CNN
July 7, 2018

What is the Blister pack

Blister pack is a term for several types of pre-formed plastic packaging used for small consumer goods, foods, and for pharmaceuticals.

The primary component of a blister packing is a cavity or pocket made from a formable web, usually a thermoformed plastic. This usually has a backing of paperboard or a lidding seal of aluminum foil or plastic. A blister that folds onto itself is often called a clamshell.

Blister packs are useful for protecting products against external factors, such as humidity and contamination for extended periods of time. Opaque blisters also protect light-sensitive products against UV rays.

Use
Blister packs are used to package products such as toys, hardware, medication, etc.

Many blister packaging machines use heat and pressure via a die to form the cavity or pocket from a roll or sheet of plastic. In recent years, improvements in cold forming, specifically allowing steeper depth/angles during forming, which minimizes the amount of material used for each cavity—have helped this technology increase. The main advantages of the plastic-based blister pack are its more compact size compared to cold formed aluminum and its transparency to see the product.

PVC-clamshell

Hangzhou Xunda Packaging

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Food Packaging Is Indispensable To Modern Times

The packaging of a product permits the general public to identify it rapidly and ascertain what its functionality is. The importance extends clearly beyond functionality. For most food products, the foremost objective of food packaging is to ensure the safety of the product and preserve it in quality condition for the anticipated shelf life until it is ready to be consumed. The following must always be considered with respect to packaging food:

Portion control begins with packaging.
Barrier protection from outside contaminants like water, air, dust, etc.
Design of structural architecture and product protection from shipping shock, movement and load support.
Eye-catching graphic design for effective product “sell through.”
Insure product safety and security with tamper resistant design, proper closures and seals.
A primary objective for food packaging is the protection against spoilage or deterioration as a result of physical damage during supply and product distribution. In the storage, distribution and handling, food products are subjected to shocks, jolts and vibrations on delivery vehicles, and compression loads attributed to stacking and temperature control in warehouses. A food packages’ physical barrier should be rather conducive in resisting impact, abrasion and crushing damage, so it can effectively be used as shipping containers in addition to packaging for delicate products.

Yet another notable subject experiencing attention in food packaging is the flavor and scent barrier. The packaging functionality must protect the product from damage during handling and environmental deterioration. There are packages which contain material to absorb moisture to help prolong shelf life as well as provide an effective barrier for food dehydration and freezer burn. The scope to which food packaging complies with its preservation attribute that can cause spoilage is dependent on materials capable of providing a barrier to the environmental factors.

Packaging must protect what it sells and sell what it protects. Packaging is indispensable to the prevention of physical damage and chemical deterioration from mechanical and climatic hazards, as well as changes caused by microorganisms. Ultimately, the packaging should allow for the presentation, identification, information and convenience for the food product from the moment of production until utilized.

FROM:Peek Packaging

Influencer Marketing and How it Shapes the Custom Packaging Industry

Delivering the right Custom Packaging “open box experience” to the right influencer gives your brand potential to go viral. Today’s consumers are most likely to make purchasing decisions based on recommendations from others. Your custom packaging will heighten the sense of anticipation of your influencer and their followers, especially when used as part of a larger campaign.

Without being too technical, influencer marketing is the process of influencers – individuals with large followings – sharing a product and/or service with their followers. They could share via any form of content marketing including but not limited to blogs, videos, pictures, etc.  That means when an influencer posts a picture or video of your product, people are watching. What is the first thing everyone judges? Your packaging design.

Influencer’s have strong relationships with their followers because their followers can see and hear everything they share online. What influencers and their users want to see is out-of-the-box thinking. Be unique enough to draw their attention and be creative enough so they want to keep it. If you are sending products to influencers in hopes that they are going to share it, the majority of influencers will do just that – IF they find the branding and/or product intriguing enough.

Influencer marketing isn’t just a new buzz word. It’s now a real form of marketing that every business needs to consider.

If an influencer has a genuine love and respect for your brand, your new product launch and/or overall campaign could take off in a hurry. If they don’t? It could be back to the drawing board. Is now the time to re-evaluate your packaging design?

FROM:Peek Packaging

Five Advantages Of Plastic Molding

With the continuous development of the packaging industry, plastic molding has been widely used, and today we share with you the five advantages of plastic molding.

(1) Adaptability of product specifications Strongly, the plastic forming method can be used to manufacture extra large, extra small, extra thick and extremely thin products. The sheet can be as thin as 1~2MM or even thinner, and the product area can be as large as 10m2. , as small as a few square millimeters, the wall thickness can be as large as 20mm, as small as 0.1mm.

(2) Wide range of products, daily use, blister packaging, small plastic blister packaging, automotive blister packaging, electronic product blister packaging, food blister packaging, cosmetic blister packaging, computer peripheral equipment blister packaging, toy blister packaging , sports goods blister packaging, stationery, blister packaging, etc.

(3) Low equipment investment

(4) Easy mold manufacturing, (with plaster mold, copper mold, aluminum mold ~~~~)

(5) High production efficiency.
Save raw and auxiliary materials, light weight, convenient transportation, good sealing performance, meet the requirements of environmentally friendly green packaging; can pack any special-shaped products, no additional buffering materials are required for packing; the packaged products are transparent, beautiful in appearance, easy to sell, and suitable Mechanized and automated packaging, easy to modernize management, save manpower and improve efficiency.

Some Advantages Of Food Blister Packaging

In the past, in order to facilitate transportation, manufacturers will give a certain amount of food packaging, but today, people not only to facilitate transportation, but to beautify items, environmental protection and preservation.

First, beautify the items, the packaged food looks clean and fresh, making people feel at ease.

Second, environmental protection, now everything is given priority to environmental protection, environmentally friendly items can be recognized by the society, food blister packaging is more environmentally friendly than carton packaging.

Third, preservation, food blister packaging can isolate bacteria.

Indeed, now that we go to the supermarket to buy things, we can see that blister packaging can package food, it can isolate bacteria, blister packaging is not only environmentally friendly, but also beautiful, and promote sales.

Analysis Of The Three Advantages Of Blister Packaging

The three advantages of blister packaging are as follows:

1. Blister packaging can enhance the price and image of the product itself, as well as the role of shaping and dissemination, which has a major impact on the brand image and popularity of the company.

2. Blister packaging for the purpose of separation, shockproof, and lining, packaging products are mostly electronic, IT, industrial parts, toys, stationery, food, handicrafts and cosmetics, etc., can pack many small products, make the product more overall Beautiful.

3. Blister packaging also aims to display and protect products.

Several Types Of Blister Boxes

The plastic box is a kind of plastic product with a cover and a bottom. The bottom and the cover are connected together by a double-folded plastic box, and the bottom and the cover are separated by a bottom cover plastic box. Of course, there are also many kinds of it.

Food Blister Box: It is mainly made of BOPS and PET plastic materials. It can be directly in contact with food, environmentally friendly and non-toxic.

Electronic product blister box: generally adopts antistatic PET or PVC, which is folded into a closed container to protect electronic products.

Hot melt adhesive sealing plastic box: It is mostly used in the medical industry. It is produced by non-toxic PS and PET materials. When it is packaged, the hot melt adhesive tape is bonded to the plastic box by the plastic sealing machine.

Blister inner box: used in the IT industry, the product is often placed in the groove of the surface of the plastic box, the box fittings and product specifications.

Blister tray: also called plastic inner tray, plastic plastic sheet is made into plastic with specific groove by blister process, and the product is placed in the groove to protect and beautify the product.