When preparing to commercialize newly developed, boundary-pushing food packages, converters must engage in a significant amount of testing before the first sales pitch is even made. Recently, US standup-pouch provider Ampac Flexibles, Converted Products Div. (Cincinnati) needed to test a new laser-score feature it had developed to provide consumer-goods packagers with an easy-opening option.

While many converters and food manufacturing plants usually have some on-premise analysis capability, there are many tests that are not run frequently enough to justify the expense of specialized instrumentation. This was the situation Ampac found itself in, so the company hired Minneapolis-based Mocon, Inc. (www.mocon.com) to provide the necessary testing services.

Ampac Flexibles, a division of Ampac Packaging LLC, is a diversified, flex-pack converter with nine operating sites in North America and Asia, including the standup-pouch operations of Kapak Corp, acquired last year. The company's converted products division offers up to 10-color flexographic and eight-color, two-sided gravure printing, solvent and solventless laminations, and a wide variety of custom and stock premade-pouch designs with laser scoring, fitments and zippers.

To provide leading-edge pouch technology, Ampac recently invested in a laser suitable for scoring non-retort laminations. Laser-scored pouch laminations tear across neatly and provide an attractive, parallel, front and back opening.

“Films don't always tear in a linear fashion,” explains Tobin Haas, director of technical services for Ampac Flexibles, Converted Products Div. “Frequently, the user is left with a jagged or nonparallel front and back edge. From a marketing perspective, this is usually unattractive and can result in product spills—particularly if the package contains more than one serving and is meant to be reclosed.”

During scoring, when the laser penetrates a lamination that contains both transparent and nontransparent layers, the laser is absorbed by some layers and not by others. The key is to affect the structure so that it provides a clear tear across the affected path, but not to the degree that the barrier properties of the package are compromised.

Because of the potential for the barrier to be affected during scoring, before Ampac began promoting the easy-open capability to packagers, it wanted statistical data that would show that the benefits of laser scoring could be introduced without disturbing the lamination's barrier properties. That's when it turned to Mocon's testing and consulting laboratory.

Primarily known for its testing instrumentation—which includes permeation, gas and head-space analyzers; aroma and off-odor instruments; gauging instruments; leak and burst detectors; seal strength testers; and other equipment—Mocon also offers testing and consulting services.

According to Mocon, although there are many analytical service options available, its laboratory can provide a unique perspective because the tests it performs are conducted with instrumentation that it has manufactured. Equally as important, the company adds, is that it understands the science of developing and interpreting test data, which puts it in an exceptional position to perform and interpret tests. In addition, because it develops testing equipment, Mocon notes that it can test customers' packaging with the very latest instrumentation, including units that have not yet been commercially released.

Mocon follows the parameters set by ASTM Intl. (www.astm.org), so that data are comparable from one lab to another or from converter to packager. Mocon's testing and consulting services for films or finished packages (flexible, semi-rigid or rigid) include odor analysis for isolating the slightest trace of off odors, as well as desirable flavors; permeation analysis including oxygen and moisture vapor transmission rates to better predict a food product's shelf life; organic migration of scalping analysis to identify flavor loss in foods and beverages; dissolved oxygen in liquids; and active packaging analysis to measure the efficiencies of oxygen scavengers and dessicants.

In Ampac's case, Mocon tested a variety of pouch structures and thicknesses over a period of several months for both oxygen and moisture vapor-transmission rates.

“Basically, we challenged the pouch by introducing the permeant to its exterior,” says David Farmer, Mocon account executive. “Then we swept off the inside volume and sent it to a detector, so that any oxygen or moisture vapor that found its way into the package was measured. That's how total permeation was calculated.”

The end result for Ampac is that positive test data now enables the company to discuss with its customers the benefits of laser scoring, armed with independent statistics. “We now have the data that will allow us to offer packagers the latest easy-opening feature for standup pouches,” Haas says. “This lets us offer structural alternatives that not only achieve desired barrier parameters, but also provide consumers with a more attractive, more functional way of accessing the contents.”

Further, the company was able to conduct the testing without spending capital on equipment that would be used infrequently. “It really boils down to the quantity,” Farmer says. “If a company has a significant amount of testing volume, then it typically makes more sense to purchase the equipment. But it's usually not a good idea to buy equipment if it is going to sit idle for most of the month.”

Sometimes a company with its own testing capability will choose to have testing done externally just for the added credibility or to meet increased throughput needs that can be provided by an independent lab. “In many cases, a client may not be using the proper barrier for their product,” Farmer explains. “That's when they can work with our consulting services to help determine exactly what is required.”

This article originally appeared in Packaging Digest (May 2006).