Flexible Packaging Innovations for Coffee, Tea, and Water

Ryan Balock, Randy Austin and Erica Rios

Who is Scholle IPN?

All the parts involved in flexible

Flexible Packaging 101

FILM PACKAGE MAKING FITMENT FILLING

• It’s not like a Ziploc bag

• Mono-layer vs. multi-layer

• Lamination vs. co-extrusion

• Pre-made vs. Form-Fill-Seal • Retail vs. Institutional

• Foodservice and Dispensing

• Manual vs. Automatic

Flexible Packaging Components

• Inner-Ply – beverage contact layer

• Outer-Ply – laminate for oxygen barrier and strength

• Spout & Fitment – filling and dispensing

Protect your product from outside environmental factors

Film

1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/organoleptic

▪ What can you expect?

▪ How does processing style play into shelf life?

▪ What does “opened shelf life” mean?

Shelf life

▪ Being, affecting, or relating to qualities (such as taste, color, odor, and feel) of a substance (such as a food or drug) that stimulate the sense organs1

▪ Water transport through polymer

▪ Food to polymer interaction

Organoleptic

▪ How does barrier work?

• Oxygen

• Light

• Moisture

▪ How does lamination help barrier?

• Allows you to customize performance

▪ How does flexible stack up against rigid

▪ How to test package strength

• Puncture

• Drop testing

• Instron

▪ How does box fit play into overall package strength?

Strength Barrier

Film

Bag Making

1. Unwind films (top and bottom)

2. Spout hole punch

3. Sealing spout/tap assembly to film

4. Perimeter seal

5. Bag separation or perforation

Bag Making

Teamwork makes the dream work!

Fitments

Dispensers

• Gravity

• Direct-connect

• Pump-out

• Peristaltic

• Slash and Pour

Product vs. Dispensing

• Concentrated

• Full-Strength

• Ambient

• Sweetened/Additives

• “Clean Label”

Quality & Safety: Making it right

• pH and your product

• Sterilization methods: • Gamma

• Electron-beam

• X-Ray

• Testing: sensory, transportation, shelf life

Product pH

• The concentration of hydrogen ions is commonly expressed in terms of the pH scale.

• Low pH corresponds to high hydrogen ion concentration and vice versa.

• A substance added to water increases the concentration of hydrogen ions(lowers the pH) is called an acid.

• A substance that reduces the concentration of hydrogen ions(raises the pH) is called a base.

• A substances enable solutions to resist pH changes when an acid or base is added are called buffers.

Sterilization

Sterilization Methods

Thermal Radiation

Ionizing

Gamma

X-Ray

E-Beam

Non-Ionizing

UV

Chemical

Hydrogen Peroxide

PeraceticAcid

EtO

GammaElectron

BeamX-Ray Pallets

Market Adoption

Widely Adopted for Packaging

Widely Adopted for Medical Devices

New Technology

Energy source Cobalt Electricity Electricity

Product Penetration

High Low Very High

DoseUniformity

Good Average Great

Treatment time

Hour Seconds Hour

Testing

Transport Sensory Shelf life

• Simulation of events packages could experience in real life

• Checks for package integrity after extended shipping simulation

• How does packaging and package material affect the taste profile of your product?

• Accelerated and real-time shelf life testing allow you to see the affects of time and temperature on product quality

Processing

Quality & Safety: Making it Right

2. https://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007b/071016MorganAseptic.html3. https://www.hiperbaric.com/en/high-pressure4. http://www.oberk.com/packaging-crash-course/hot-fill-cold-fill-aseptic-fill .

Aseptic Cold-Pressed (HPP) Ambient Hot-Fill

• A method to sterilize food before putting it into a similarly sterile container, resulting in a safe, ready-to-eat, shelf-stable product2

• A cold pasteurization technique by which products, already sealed in their final package, are introduced into a vessel and subjected to a high level of isostatic pressure transmitted by water3

• The container is pressurized by cooling the product then the cold product is added to the cold container4

• The liquid is heated up 194 to 203˚F in order to sterilize the product before it is filled into the container, when it is immediately cooled4

Aseptic Processing & Packaging

2. https://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007b/071016MorganAseptic.html

• Product is rapidly heated and then immediately cooled to create a commercially sterile product

• Containers are pre-sterilized with hermetic seals

• Product is then filled in an atmosphere free of microorganisms

• What’s the benefit?• Due to the fact that less processing

has occurred, you have a better quality product2

Beverage

Thermal Processing

Packaging

Packaging Sterilization

Filling & Hermetic Sealing

Shelf-Stable, Commercially

Sterile Product

Sterile filling chamber

What is Cold-Pressed (HPP)?

5. https://foodsafetytech.com/feature_article/hpp-achieve-high-standards-food-safety-without-compromising-food-quality/6. https://www.avure-hpp-foods.com/

• Product is held at a pressure of 45,000 to 87,000 psi for one to six minutes5

• Due to the extreme pressure, any packaging that is used in this must be somewhat flexible (i.e. this would not work with glass bottles or jars)

• What’s the benefit?• Since HPP uses pressure rather than heat

to deactivate pathogens and spoilage organisms, the products are more likely to retain their natural colors, textures, and flavors

• Due to the deactivation of spoilage organisms, HPP does offer an extended shelf life6

Ambient

4. http://www.oberk.com/packaging-crash-course/hot-fill-cold-fill-aseptic-fill .

• Minimal processing, so product must be refrigerated

• Commonly used for milk and fresh juice4

• What’s the benefit?• Serve ‘fresh’ at a

location/store/restaurant for immediate consumption

• ‘Fresh’ packaged products are not typically take-home

Galloway Dairy Plant, Neenah, WI

Hot-Fill

4. http://www.oberk.com/packaging-crash-course/hot-fill-cold-fill-aseptic-fill7. http://www.mjspackaging.com/blog/hot-fill-bottle-manufacturing/ .

• Product is heated between 194˚F and 203˚F for 15 to 30 seconds to ensure sterilization

• Product is filled and then inverted, allowing the heat to sterilize the container and/or the cap

• After heating, product is cooled between 180˚F and 185˚F before being transferred to the final container and sealed7

• What’s the benefit?• Products that have been hot-filled can

last up to 12 months4

Beverage Processing

Packaging Filler Conditions Description Filling & Storage Requirements Shelf Life

Ambient Pasteurized 161-185˚F 2-15 sec. Refrigerated 3 – 9 weeks

Ambient Pasteurized 161-185˚F 2-15 sec. Frozen 6 mos. – 1 year

Extended Shelf Life Ultra Pasteurized 285˚F 2 sec. Refrigerated 2 – 3 mos.

Hot-Fill 194˚F 2 sec. hold at185˚F 1 min. Refrigerated/shelf stable 6 mos. – 1 year

Aseptic High-Acid pH ≤4.6 200˚F 2-15 sec. Ambient/Shelf Stable 6 mos. – 1 year

Aseptic Low-Acid pH >4.6 285˚F 2-10 sec. Ambient/Shelf Stable 6 mos. – 1 year

Retort 250˚F 3 to 6 min.(non-heat sensitive) Ambient/Shelf Stable 6 mos. – 1 year +

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You’ve made your product, now let’s get it on the shelves!

Filling

▪ Formulate a product for you or fill your product in their factory

▪ Reduces costs of ownership during start-up

▪ Great way to launch into another geographic marketplace

▪ Can supply pre-packed product that you brand as your own

Contract Packaging

▪ Semi-automatic fillers: 1 person to fill, 1 person to package

▪ Size of filler: typical home refrigerator

▪ Additional safety features

▪ Integrates flow meters and other features that ensure consistency

▪ 6 bags per minute

▪ Fresh, hot-fill, preserved product

Small Operation Filler

▪ Manual fillers

▪ Fits on a table top

▪ 4-5 bags per minute

▪ 1 person to fill, 1 person to package

▪ Fresh, hot-fill, preserved product

Startup Filler

▪ Fully-automated fillers

▪ Size of a walk-in freezer

▪ 10-15 bags per minute

▪ 1 person to fill and package

▪ Fresh, hot-fill, preserved, aseptic product

Large Operation Filler

Filling

Mintel Coffee Trends

• Millennials love cold coffee – this is becoming more prevalent in foodservice environments and driving the growth of the cold brew coffee segment.

• With artisanal and craft beverages on the rise, cold brew rises as well, as it premiumizes the cold coffee experience.

• Dairy is to coffee as peanut butter is to jelly – as coffee is becoming more ingrained in the US, bring the new generation of coffee drinkers with new ways to flavor their coffee.

• What’s next?• As the majority of drink purchases come from non-

refrigerated aisles, shelf-stable drinks continue to comprise the majority of launches.

• Eco-friendly claims on the rise: comes in form of renewable packaging, packaging that keeps beverages fresh without preservatives, and clean packaging that is chemical-free.

Cold Brew Coffee Around the World

New Zealand Singapore USA

Strange Brew Blood Orange Sparkling Cold

Brew Coffee

Paradise Cold Brew Blackberry Flavoured

Nitro Cold Brew Coffee

Chameleon Citrus Sparkling Cold-Brew

Coffee

Retail Distribution

▪ Wandering Bear

▪ U Need Water

▪ Chameleon

What’s new?

▪ 1.5L – 5L sizes

▪ Marketing recommendations• What’s in this box?

• Communicate # of servings

• Sustainability

• Portability

• Shelf life

Bag-in-box

▪ Cold chain vs ambient

▪ Local vs regional

▪ E-commerce

▪ 1.5L stand-up pouch

▪ Pouch vs. bottle

Distribution channelsPouches

Foodservice

▪ Bunn

▪ KeyKeg

▪ JoeTap

▪ Draft systems

▪ Pump-out fitments

▪ Peristaltic fitments

▪ Like a Coca-Cola dispenser at McDonald’s

Carbonated systems Ambient systems

▪ Argo Tea

▪ Lyons Magnus

▪ Direct-connect fitments

▪ Screw-on connectors

▪ Like a juice dispenser at your hotel this morning

Aseptic systemsWhat’s new?

Foodservice Dispensing Equipment

BARISTA SELF-SERVE DRAFT

• With coffee shops experiencing growth, more consumers are walking in the door waiting for service.

• Keep customers and baristas happy with easy-to-use, quick-to-serve dispensing equipment

• Great for catering and events

• Product temperature in ambient conditions must be monitored

• Nitrogen-infusing dispensers are popular

• Can dispense from a keg or bag-in-box format

• A nitrogen infusion adds to the silky mouthfeel of cold brew

THANK YOU!

Randy Austin Erica Rios

Director, N.A. Product Line Packaging Application Engineer

Randy.Austin@scholleipn.com Erica.Rios@scholleipn.com

Ryan BalockDirector, Marketing and CommunicationsRyan.Balock@scholleipn.com