Any parent will tell you their children’s health, safety and happiness is the most important thing. Any parent will also tell you that life with a baby or toddler is a whirlwind - so having access to commercially packaged, ready-to-eat, healthy foods on your busiest day can really be a life saver.
As a mom to an active two year old who loves to explore and try new things, food being one of them, I have first-hand experience in navigating the abundant offerings of the baby food aisle of the grocery store. These days there are so many options for pre-packaged baby food items that not only help us parents introduce our children to new food items throughout the different stages of their development, but allow us to have confidence that we are doing so in a safe manner and with quality products.
As a parent who works on the supply side of packaging materials directly used in these food applications, I have a unique peek behind the curtain as to what it takes to develop materials for commercially packaged baby food and know there are certain requirements and considerations that are integral to maintaining the optimal level of quality and safety for the food we feed our children.
Continue reading to learn more about some of the key considerations when developing packaging materials for baby food applications.
What are the barrier requirements?
There are many factors to take into consideration when determining the requirements for extended shelf life foods, especially when it comes to baby food packaging materials. Not only are the food processing requirements critical to retaining nutritional value, but to ensuring product safety. Determining the barrier requirements of the packaging material for baby food applications is an essential requirement. Many factors contribute to this requirement including processing conditions and environment, distribution requirements, retail conditions, UV or other light sensitivity and shelf life expectation.
One of the primary elements to achieving target shelf life is understanding the required OTR (Oxygen Transmission Rate) and MVTR (Moisture Vapor Transmission Rate) specifications, then developing a material structure with the appropriate barrier characteristics to protect the product throughout its desired shelf-life performance. Development of high barrier structures can be achieved through a multi-layer coextrusion process leveraging materials such as EVOH to achieve the required OTR requirements to meet the long shelf-life requirements for baby food packaging.
Additionally, opportunities to refine the material structure through the use of enhanced barrier materials and precision capabilities can enhance the overall performance of the packaging. Materials such as ICPG's XPP™ Enhanced Barrier Polypropylene offer up to 80% improvement in OTR and MVTR over traditional polypropylene materials before the incorporation of EVOH. Combining our XPP materials with high barrier materials such as EVOH, can allow for structure optimization, to ensure that only the required amount of materials are used to achieve the desired shelf-life expectations, eliminating the need for over-engineering.
What is the processing method?
Identifying the packaging, processing and sterilization method is key when developing material structures for extended shelf-life baby food packaging applications. Various processing techniques are used to package baby food products ranging from toddler meals retorted in trays, to hot-fill sauce products with limited particulates, to Form, Fill and seal aseptic filling systems.
The packaging and processing method, along with the barrier requirements will play a major part in determining the best material structure to maintain the safety and integrity of the food product, as each processing method can mandate specific requirements from a materials standpoint. Form fill seal processes, for instance, require enhanced stiffness so the product can easily be snapped apart for consumption. While retort processes, require enhancements to moisture barrier protection to protect the EVOH layer from the moisture that the packaging is exposed to during the retort process.
What is the best material choice?
As noted in the previous two sections, determining the base resin and material structure for baby food applications is largely dependent on the type of packaging and processing method used, and the target shelf-life for the product. For example, if the product will undergo retort processing a multi-layer barrier coextruded polypropylene structure with EVOH would be an ideal choice given both the organoleptic properties and high heat performance of polypropylene.
ICPG provides material solutions using our XPP™ Enhanced Polypropylene solutions with enhancements to key properties, such as enhanced stiffness and "snapability" for form-fill-seal, and 80% enhanced MVTR barrier over traditional PP to protect the product against retort "shock", to offer solutions for existing baby food packaging and processing methods. Refining the material structure through a combination of enhanced barrier materials and precision multi-layer coextrusion capabilities, can also present opportunities to down-gauge and light-weight existing structures, helping to achieve sustainability commitments by reducing the amount of plastics used in the structure, while enhancing performance and processing characteristics.
Additionally, not all materials are created equal when it comes to sustainability, and with increasing industry pressures to develop more sustainable packaging solutions, as a single-use product, rigid baby food packaging is no exception. Structures developed using ICPG's XPP™ allow for structure simplification and are 100% recyclable using resin ID code (RIC) #5, allowing for integration into the existing PP rigid non-bottle recycling stream.
Interested in learning more about how you can enhance the performance and sustainability of your extended shelf-life baby food packaging solutions? Download our Baby Food Packaging Solutions Info Sheet to learn more:
