Mocon unveils 'one stop' food and packaging testing system
The US-based company said its Advance Packaging Solutions model provides a “single point of entry for virtually any type of testing which can impact shelf life”, and goes beyond its usual existing services that include barrier analysis, headspace, water vapour and vacuum decay.
Alan Shema, company product manager for consulting/testing services, said: “Historically, brand owners who needed different types of testing services would have to engage more than one company. For example, if you wanted to study food deterioration and shelf life, you would typically go to two places. For transportation concerns you would need a third service. This resulted in a longer testing timeline and much less coordination/ integration between testing phases and partners.”
Entire packaging life cycle
The new programme will consist of tests for determining factors that accelerate food deterioration, as well as modelling studies on shelf life. Microbial and accelerated aging studies, gas mix optimisation, MAP system audits, and shelf life optimisation are also part of the initiative.
It will also include sensory panels consisting of trained human testers to evaluate food taste, colour etc, along with transportation testing to simulate shipping conditions.
Mocon marketing manager Guy Wray told FoodProductionDaily.com that while none of the services were new, the company had spotted what it believed was a gap in the market in that they had not all be gathered in one place before. He said it was the first one stop programme to tackle the entire food and packaging life cycle.
“We discovered there is no single ‘go to’ place that is a complete service,” he added. “We can advise processors on how to achieve the shelf-life they want and what this means in terms of cutting waste and implications for how far they can ship their product. It can address existing issues and also anticipate and solve other issues before they arise.”
