Functional food packaging: Revolutionising functional foods

With the major focus on functional ingredients, label design and marketing claims, product packing often takes a back seat. Worse still, packaging can even end up as little more

The missing ingredient?

With the major focus on functional ingredients, label design and marketing claims, product packing often takes a back seat. Worse still, packaging can even end up as little more than an after-thought in development and marketing process of new functional food products, which can be a costly oversight. Recent advances in packaging open up an array of possibilities to ultimately deliver better functionality, quality and taste to the consumer. For the adventurous there are also opportunities to forge new and highly profitable market sectors, while even the most conservative companies can build on existing safety, sales and quality of their products.

Functional packaging- what can it provide?

Application of new packaging technologies can increase shelf life and improve the safety of fresh products such as meats and fish. Other applications include theft protection for premium/high value products such as meat, fish, cheese and dietary supplements. With increased emphasis on reducing the carbon footprint there are also opportunities to produce greener functional foods by making the packaging biodegradable, reducing the amount of material used to make the packaging and reducing transport costs. The product packaging provides a ‘billboard’ on which to make actual and implied marketing claims, which though exploited by some manufacturers is often overlooked. Most exciting is the application of new packaging technologies in the convenience beverage sector.

Incorporation of some functional food ingredients into aqueous product formats with acceptable shelf life poses formulators a variety of problems. Although some ingredients are totally stable in water others undergo accelerated breakdown, which ultimately limits shelf life and can compromise product quality and taste. For example, delivery live probiotics in ready to consume formats usually requires refrigeration. Even under these conditions shelf life is measured in weeks or months, rather than years and refrigeration adds to product manufacturing, transport and storage costs.

Vitamin C naturally undergoes oxidation in solution, however to ensure that label claims can be met over the shelf life of the product ‘overages’ are commonly used. This requires addition of around 15% more ingredient than is reported on the label, to ensure that sufficient active remains to meet the product label claims. Overages are also used to ensure that sufficient numbers of live probiotics are present for the shelf life of the product, however provision of these ‘extra’ functional ingredients also increases total raw ingredient costs.

In other instances functional ingredients in aqueous formats require ultra heat treatment (UHT) or sterilization to allow them to be stored without refrigeration. For example thermal sterilisation of protein solutions can increase shelf life from a few days to many months, without the need for refrigeration. However, heating can compromise the physical and nutritional functionality of proteins and is known to make soluble proteins insoluble (Meltretter et al. 2008), which in some applications would be undesirable. For example in the post-exercise sports nutrition sector fast digestion is paramount for recovery however proteins denatured by heating slow digestion making the product less efficacious. Heating can also reduce levels of bioactive protein components such as the amino acid cysteine, which is rate-limiting precursor for synthesis of the bodys’ most concentrated antioxidant, glutathione. Milder heating processes can attenuate the undesired effects, but often require the addition of preservatives which impart a ‘chemical aftertaste’ that is difficult to mask.

Clearly overcoming the problems of using unstable ingredients in water based ready to consume products (e.g. yoghurts, smoothies and drinks) opens up a range of innovative functional food formulations, with associated marketing opportunities.

Smart packaging

Food spoilage is a major problem for chilled and frozen products and poor handling (such as heat exposure) during delivery or storage could result in foods going ‘off’ before the ‘best before date’. Such events could have adverse consequences for the consumer, retailer and food manufacturer, but could be prevented through the use of ‘intelligent nano-packaging’. This is currently under development and uses nanotechnology to detect changes in specific marker compounds of rancidity. When coupled with a colour change nano-packaging could be used to inform the consumer not to buy the product, or could be linked with bar coding so that sale of product at the check out would be prevented.

How less provides more

The permeability of packaging to gases is one of the key determinants in to shelf life in foods that are susceptible to oxidation. This can be drastically reduced by the use of nanofilm coatings such as Imperm (Nanocor Inc), Durethan LDPU 601 (Bayer AG) and Aegis OX (Honeywell). These use nanocomposites with clay nanoparticles as barrier layers in multilayer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and films. The current generation of nanofilms greatly outperform conventional technology, for example a Durethan polyamide film from Bayer reduced oxygen penetration across a nano membrane more than 5 fold when compared with a conventional film up to 31oC (70% humidity) and more than three fold at 38oC (90% humidity) (based data from Eminate 2007). This has the potential to allow thinner plastic bottles coated with the nanofilm to provide the same shelf life as conventional bottles, thereby reducing raw material costs and waste.

Tagging to reduce theft

Dietary supplements provide highly concentrated sources of nutrients and per gram are some of the most expensive consumer purchases. Although obtaining a listing in mass market distribution channels such as supermarkets and high street chains can provide the gateway to sales success, the high value and small size of dietary supplements can make them particularly vulnerable to shoplifters. This is certainly not a new problem and in 2007 The Global Retail Theft Barometer reported that the premium cheese Parmigiano Reggiano, was the number one stolen food item in Italy. Introduction of Checkpoint's SmartPak radio frequency based electronic security tags cut thefts of dairy products from 9 per cent to 1 per cent. Such technology is already mainstream on CDs and small electrical goods and falling costs technology costs could make its use on foods even more widespread.

The future is green

The increasing environmental focus is helping to drive consumer demand for green packaging. Perhaps the simplest and least intrusive step to food manufacturers is to use ‘greener’ packaging materials. This can range from replacing non-biodegradable plastics with biodegradable forms, or using recyclable packaging in place of non-recyclable forms. However this is really a starting point; minimizing the amount of material needed to make product packaging can bring considerable cost savings. The most obvious come from savings in packaging costs, however there are also secondary savings as transport of packaging and finished goods will also be reduced. Industry giant Pepsi reduced the amount of plastic used in its 500ml bottles by 20%, which was claimed would remove 20 million Kg of waste from the environment (Rano 2008).

Implied claims

In a world of increasingly tight regulations that govern editorial copy, product marketing claims, and endorsements by doctors, celebrities and professional bodies, product packaging still provides untapped opportunities to make implied claims. Shredded wheat have included a heart logo on their packing, providing a implied heart heath claim, but such marketing could be extended to other products associated with heart heath such as using heart shaped packaging. London based nutrition company Biosynergy deliberately selected a curved bottle for their functional weight loss/beauty drink called “Beauty from within”. This product is set on a grape juice platform fortified with established weight loss ingredients such as green tea, that are already popular with consumers. The use of a ‘waisted bottle’ provides a means of differentiating the product from its’ competitors and make an implied efficacy claim for weight loss.

Why being square is cool

Health claims cab be a key sales driver, but to be effective they must be clearly displayed to potential consumers. Surprisingly some of the simplest packaging concepts are also the most effective. European sports nutrition giants Maximuscle are almost unique in the industry as they use a rectangular tub for their high volume protein, energy and recovery drinks. The more popular round tubs used by other manufacturers have a less obvious front to the container. This means that even if the products carry marketing claims these may not be clearly visible to the consumer when hastily stacked on retailers shelves. In contrast, Maximuscle’s rectangular containers clearly display each products benefits to the consumer, making a purchase more probable. The advantages of rectangular containers extend far beyond retailers shelves, as square tubs occupy less space when boxed than comparable round tubs. This allows smaller boxes to be used, reducing packaging and allowing the product to be packed more densely saving valuable warehouse space and freight costs. The comparatively small space occupied by Maximuscle’s rectangular containers was also a contributing factor to the company obtaining listings in supermarkets such as Tesco and ASDA. These mainstream retailers measure sales success in terms of tens of thousands worth of stock that are sold per square centimetre of shelf space!

The future with a twist

Many of the problems relating to stability, taste and delivering effective amounts of ingredients, are reduced or even abolished when ingredients are in a powder format. Traditionally however such products have not been ready to drink, requiring the addition of water or milk, a mixing container and a drinking vessel. New advances in packaging technology will result in a new sector of the sports drink market, the IRTD or ‘instantized’ ready to drink product. This advanced packaging format is currently provided by Liquid Health Labs with their PowercapTM system. This comprises the bottle containing liquid and the Powercap, which keeps the other ingredients be they in liquid or powder format separate. When the drink is ready to be consumed the cap is twisted and the contents of the cap are released. This new IRTD packaging format is set to revolutionise the sports drink market, by matching the convenience of RTDs while providing added functionality from ingredients that could not be used previously.

Sports nutrition applications and opportunities

Sports nutrition is based primarily on functionality (i.e. product effectiveness) rather than taste. However with sports nutrition becoming increasingly mainstream consumer expectations have increased so that they now demand great tasting functional products. Although milk proteins and amino acids provide the mainstay of the ever increasing physique and recovery markets, attaining stability these ingredients in RTD formats with acceptable taste has been notoriously difficult. Creatine is another ingredient that is key to the sports and physique nutrition sector, however this was also not well suited to RTD applications as it degrades to creatinine during long-term storage (Persky and Brazeau 2001). This makes many aqueous creatine products ineffective at increasing tissue creatine levels and improving performance (Almada et al. 2001).

IRTD packaging provides ideal solutions to the problems posed by the sports nutrition industry. Protein and amino acids can be incorporated into formulations without the need for heating, which would compromise functionality, or additives that compromise taste. Similarly creatine can easily be incorporated in IRTD products without compromising efficacy, as dry creatine powders undergo minimal degradation to creatinine (Child et al. 2007, Tallon et al. 2007). One of the few limitations of Powercap technology is cap volume, which limits the amount of unstable bioactives (such as protein, creatine, probiotics and amino acids) that can be delivered. Despite this, the cap still provides sufficient capacity to make efficacious products, allowing a range of marketing claims to be substantiated that have direct relevance and appeal to consumers.

IRTDs applications and benefits

In 2007 Liquid Health Labs were awarded ‘The Frost & Sullivan Vendor of The Year Award’ for their Powercap ingredient delivery system. As leaders in the packaging field WFI considered Ken Milligan, Executive VP of Liquid Health Labs, the ideal person to speak with on potential advantages and applications of IRTDs in this fast growing sector.

WFI: RTD protein drinks have compromised functionality because the heating process that increases shelf life also denatures bioactive proteins and amino acids. For these reasons Powercap can provide better shelf life and functionality than RTD based protein drinks, has the technology been used in the sports nutrition sector?

Powercap: Sports nutrition is a key category for PowerCap. The degradative effects of the hot fill process and time spent in aqueous solution place constraints on RTD beverages. PowerCap allows companies to avoid these challenges by storing the ingredients dry and apart from the water – creating an RTG (ready to go) beverage rather than the standard RTD. An added benefit to avoiding the hot fill process is that, products that incorporate PowerCap are ‘greener’ than an RTD hot fill product. Cold fill bottles use less plastic, the energy needed for hot filling is avoided, and production overages for ingredients (because ingredients are degraded by heat) are not necessary.

WFI: Many RTD products require preservatives, artificial colours and artificial sweeteners to provide products with acceptable shelf life. Powercap would seem ideally suited to products in the 'health sector' where convenience without preservatives, or artificial additives is paramount. Have you made any inroads into this market?

PowerCap Answer: Avoiding preservatives is another important differentiator for PowerCap. Products that are boosted by PowerCap are able to deliver a fresh product, with noticeable benefits in taste, color, and aroma, without requiring preservatives. Even when liquids are stored within the PowerCap, the benefit exists. Since only ~0.1% of a 2ml concentrate is preservative (if needed depending on formulation), when that 2ml is released from PowerCap, the amount of preservative is diluted to be functionally preservative free.

WFI: How much does the use of Powercap technology add to total packaging costs?

PowerCap Answer: PowerCap adds tremendous value to a package – creating a premium product based on premium benefit. In the North American market, most PowerCap products will be priced between $1.99-2.99 depending on the category and ingredients.

WFI: Powercap is substantially lighter and smaller than the 'fluid' component of the final product. Can the cap be shipped separately for 'assembly' near too the final retail outlet to minimise freight costs?

POWERCAP Answer: Absolutely. This is another empowering feature of PowerCap. Since the cap is housing the ‘moving parts’ of a beverage, with only the addition to water being required, rather than shipping full bottles of water across the world, loaded PowerCaps can be shipped in bulk to bottlers. This represents a tremendous savings in shipping and again adds to the ‘green’ story for PowerCap. Additionally, the bottler now does not need to have RTD capabilities – which opens up the possible bottlers for a product to also include regular water bottlers. As a company, we work with bottlers to get them up and running with any chuck and line changes that are required. While the amount of modification depends on the bottlers and the specifics of their line, the experience thus far has been that only modest investments are required to have a bottler able to benefit from the value add that PowerCap delivers.

References

Almada et al. (2001) Ingestion of creatine serum has no effect on plasma creatine. Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 15, LB333A

Child et al. (2007) Rapid degradation of creatine ethyl esters to creatinine reduces creatine availability. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, Las Vegas, 2007

Eminate (2007) Nanowatch working group, Leatherhead Foods, June.

Meltretter et al. (2008) Identification and site-specific relative quantification of beta-lactoglobulin modifications in heated milk and dairy products. J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Jul 9;56(13):5165-71.

Persky and Brazeau (2001) Clinical pharmacology of the dietary supplement creatine monohydrate. Pharmacological Reviews 53; 162-176.

Rano (2008) News briefs: Green packaging initiatives. Nutra Ingredients.com Europe, 7/5/2008.

Tallon et al. (2007) Kre-alkalyn® supplementation has no beneficial effect on creatine-to-creatinine conversion rates. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, Las Vegas, 2007