A series of short videos to help the food and drink industry evaluate the fitness for purpose of different types of plastics, metal, glass and paper and board, can be viewed on the Campden BRI website.
Produced by Campden BRI, the videos show some of the many test techniques that are available.
Emma Hanby, of Campden BRI's Packaging section, says: "For example, burst testing is a way of testing seal strength in retort pouches and lidded trays, while peel testing assesses the force required to peel a lid from a container. Compression testing evaluates the load bearing strength of packaging - including cartons, boxes and plastic pots - to ascertain their ability to withstand stacking and other compression forces. Internal pressure resistance is important for bottles for carbonated drinks, to determine the pressure that they can safely withstand when they are filled.”
Leak detection tests and permeability analysis can also be performed.
Additional packaging related services at Campden BRI include chemical analyses of packaging migrants, microscopic evaluation of packaging structure, such as for metal cans, and research into consumers' perception of packaging issues.
Campden BRI also offers training sessions, with food contact materials among the recent topics.
