New sheet enhances ready meals quality

In collaboration with its customers and raw material producer Ciba, RPC Bebo Plastik is leading the development of a new generation of barrier films, incorporating oxygen scavengers that further improve and maintain the quality of ready meal ingredients during their shelf life. Proven barrier materials such as EVOH offer extended shelf life for products by impeding the entry of oxygen into a pack.

In collaboration with its customers and raw material producer Ciba, RPC Bebo Plastik is leading the development of a new generation of barrier films, incorporating oxygen scavengers that further improve and maintain the quality of ready meal ingredients during their shelf life. Proven barrier materials such as EVOH offer extended shelf life for products by impeding the entry of oxygen into a pack. Oxygen scavengers go one step further by “capturing” oxygen within the barrier layer of the sealed pack, ensuring that it never reaches and reacts with the product. This therefore further minimises any deterioration, particularly in colour or flavour. RPC Bebo’s new seven-layer film incorporates both an EVOH barrier layer and a layer where polypropylene is mixed with an oxygen scavenger. This film can then be thermoformed as normal into familiar tray and dish shapes for ready meals. Tests by two of RPC Bebo’s major customers have shown that ready meal ingredients in the new packaging, such as vegetables and mashed potatoes, offer clear flavour and colour advantages over those in conventional barrier packaging that does not contain oxygen scavengers. Importantly, consumers also noticed that overall ‘freshness’ had improved even after a six-month shelf life. Dishes featuring the new oxygen scavenger film have already been successfully adopted by both Unilever Bestfoods and HJ Heinz.