If the 2007 Achievement Awards competition, produced by the Flexible Packaging Association (www.flexpack.org) is any indication, the development of diverse and innovative flexible packaging remains strong. Announced Feb. 28 at the FPA's annual meeting in Aventura, FL, the winners were judged in four categories: packaging excellence; technical innovation; environmental achievement; and printing achievement. Winners included eight Gold awards, one Highest Achievement winner, and a Special Citation winner for Social Responsibility.

FPA's Highest Achievement Award went to the “Smack Pack” System from Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. (Odell, OR). Claimed to be the first retorted “pouch-within-a-pouch” liquid yeast package marketed in the US for making beer and wine (A), the package comprises 50- and 125-mL standup pouches, one inside the other. Converted by Ampac Flexibles (www.ampaconline.com), which also won a Gold Award in Packaging Excellence and a Gold in Technical Innovation, the end user activates the yeast by rupturing an inner packet containing liquid-malt nutrient base with a firm “smack” to the outer pouch. The contents of both pouches then interact and begin metabolizing. Ampac supplies premade, three-side-sealed pouches made from a high-barrier adhesive lamination containing foil that it reverse-prints by gravure in six colors.

Heat-and-serve pasta and sauces in shaped, single-serve, retort pouches (B) in 150- and 220-g sizes reduce handling costs and logistical challenges for Nestlé's Buitoni brand. CLP Industries Ltd., the Israeli parent company of US-based CLP Packaging Solutions (www.clppackagingsolutions.com), won a Gold Award in Packaging Excellence for its technology to produce the premade Buitoni pouches that echo the products' traditional packaging profile on store shelves. Converted in Israel, the pouches are made of a nonfoil adhesive lamination incorporating a high-barrier polyethylene terephthalate film from Toray of Japan (www.toray.co.jp), a PET print layer from Korea's Kolon (www.ikolon.com), a biaxially oriented nylon layer from Caffaro S.p.A. (www.caffarochem.com) in Italy for puncture-resistance and flexibility, a polypropylene sealant layer supplied by Polyon (www.polyon.co.il/) in Israel and retortable adhesives from Rohm & Haas (www.rohmhaas.com) in Italy. CLP reverse-prints the PET layer, laminates and converts the pouches.

Bold graphics and cost-effectiveness at the same time isn't an easy proposition—ask any converter. But Genpak (www.genpak.com) used its Opaltone® digital separation software from Opaltone, Inc. (www.opaltone.com) to create appetizing effects for the panels on a bag containing New York Style Lightly Salted Organic Pita Chips (C), from Nonni's Food Co. (Tulsa).

The zippered standup bag is a three-ply material featuring a matte-finish polypropylene film that conveys a natural look. The bagstock is made with Supermet™ 48-ga high-metal-adhesion metallized PET film from Celplast Metallized Products (cmp.celplast.com), which Genpak says affords superior bonds and a stable structure. The other ply is a sealant layer laminated to the middle polyester layer. Genpak, which took a Gold for Printing Achievement, produces the bagstock at its plant in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, and reverse-prints the outer matte film flexographically in eight Opaltone colors.

Exceptional printing and graphic designs really make the 11.1-oz bag for Hershey's Mounds Island Orange Dark Chocolate candies (D) sparkle. Converted by American Packaging Corp. (www.ampkcorp.com), a Gold winner in Printing Achievement, the bagstock is made of an oriented PP that's adhesive-laminated in-line to a clear linear low-density PE substrate for gloss.

Another new retort pouch “mushrooming” with possibilities is the Cryovac® Flavour Mark™ pouch (E) from the Cryovac Food Packaging Div. of Sealed Air Corp. (www.sealedair.com). The shelf-stable Flavour Mark pouch earned a Gold Award in Technical Innovation. It represents the first commercial foodservice application of a totally coextruded retort package. Designed to replace the #10 can, the nonfoil pouch technology is a 6-mil, coextruded, multilayer film with a shelf life of nine months or more. Foods can be processed at retort temperatures of 250 deg F for 120 min while exhibiting excellent flexural post-retort properties.

The sophisticated standup pouch adopted by Northern Flair Foods for its Malto Bella Gourmet Malt Balls (F) represents an environmentally friendly use of nonvolatile inks and adhesives. Replacing a package printed in multiple line colors, the new 5-oz pouch displays stunning graphics with water-based inks and an adhesive that eliminates odors and retained solvents.

Converted by C&H Packaging, Co. (www.chpack.com), the Gold Winner in Environmental Achievement features a highly-opaque three-ply laminated pouch. C&H says it includes uncoated polyesters from Toray Plastics (America) (www.toraytpa.com) that were chosen for their economies, Cel-Met metallized PET from Celplast and a proprietary sealant. C&H says its printing and laminating processes involve no emissions. The converter reverse-prints the uncoated PET web in seven colors and laminates it to the metallized PET before mating that lamination to a sealant and finally slitting.

Beer-can tote scores A bag construction from Curwood (www.curwood.com) (G), marketed by Miller Brewing Co. as the Miller® Lite Chill Bag™, won for Packaging Excellence. The tote bag is said to be a new flexible style of promotional beer-can carrier able to hold and comfortably transport a whopping 18 12-oz cans of beer and up to 50 lb. The tote is water-resistant and has room for adding ice. Incorporating a glitzy 48-ga metallized polyester film top layer and edgy graphics, the packaging material is gravure-printed in seven colors.

The Nevirapine Infant–Dose Pouch (H) is a drug-delivery system from PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), a Seattle-based, international nonprofit. PATH's new single-dose pouch provides women with NVP syrup to take home in a simple-to-use, tamper-evident format.

Produced with LPS Industries (www.lpsind.com), the pouch was recognized with a Special Citation for Social Responsibility. It's made of a 4-mil, solventless polyester/foil/poly lamination sealed on three sides. The drug pouch, used in rural parts of Africa, protects the integrity of the medication and reduces the chance that the syringe will be squeezed, resulting in an accidental loss of the medication.