On the 9th December 30 members of The East Midlands Packaging Society (me being one of them) visited The Marston’s Brewery at Burton Upon Trent, UK. The Marston’s Beer Company is the brewing division of Marston’s PLC and is responsible for some of Britain’s best-loved beers, including Marston’s, Banks’s, Jennings, Hobgoblin, Mansfield and Ringwood. Their award-winning ales collected five international brewing medals at the Millennium International Brewing Awards.

We had a great and insightful visit – shame if you missed it. If you live within travelling disctance of Nottingham/ East Midlands, why not come along to one of our future events?

You can read the full ‘visit report’ and find out more about the forthcoming East Midlands Packaging Society events by clicking the following link: Marston’s Brewery East Midlands Packaging Society Visit Report

Chris Penfold

External Relations Officer, East Midlands Packaging Society (part of IOM3)

Sterling Anthony has given some detailed technical advice we may all wish to consider for the palletisation of our products.  Annie Dallison

 It’s not an appealing topic, but it has grabbed recent headlines.

The Tylenol national recall—ongoing at the time of this article’s publication—is a reminder that wood pallets can be the source of packaging/product contamination. Such a capability is reason for brand owners to have in place a Pallet Purity Program (PPP).

Written by Sterling Anthony, CPP.  Published in Packworld.com 20th January 2010 to read the full article to follow this link http://bit.ly/5uLMHF

As we move into the second week following the Haitian earthquake, things have been fraught for the local population, most of whom have been without food, water, electricity, or a roof over their heads. During that period dead bodies have been piling up all over the place, including hospital car parks where medical supplies have been in short supply and many of the surgical operations that have been carried out, have been done without anaesthetic.

Medical, food & water supplies packaged to survive a harsh environment

Although of no consolation to those that have perished over the past week, luckily the logistical situation is improving now that US ships have arrived and helicopters are finally getting to the places they are needed with those essential supplies. It is at times like this that we are reminded of the true worth of packaging,  in an environment where there are no fridges to keep things cool and packaging has to perform an even more essential role than normal in a very hostile environment. The packaging contains, avoiding spillage. It protects against crushing, vermin & pilfering. It preserves, providing protection for the products within and extended shelf life. It enables ease of transport, whether by plane, truck or onwards by hand and lastly it informs, providing vital information on contents, storage, dosage and application.

In summary, it provides a lifeline where, without it, medical supplies would arrive dirty and non-sterile, food would ’spoil’ within hours and water would become contaminated, leading to dysentery and further distress and trauma. So, packaging, where on earth would we be without it? Chris Penfold

We thought this article was worth communicating further as the issues McNeil have experienced may be impacting the packaging/products for other companies.

Annie Dallison

FDA has issued a warning letter to McNeil Healthcare stating that its Jan. 8 inspection of the company’s Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, location identified significant cGMP violations. Since 2008, McNeil has received odor complaints regarding certain Tylenol products. In 2009, McNeil began recalling bottled OTC products after discovering that packaging may have been contaminated with a pallet pesticide. The recall now numbers 60 million bottles.

http://bit.ly/7OeQMT

It seems that despite the economic downturn and environmental concerns regarding it’s packaging and transportation the global market for bottled water is still growing.  How much longer can this continue though and what alternatives could we offer? (Jane)

Global bottled water sales increased in 2009 as growth in China compensated for declines in Western Europe and North America, according to Canadean. According to its recently published Global Bottled Water Report, the worldwide market grew 2 per cent despite the combined impact of the recession and growing environmental concerns.

http://bit.ly/7VXbMw

Interesting move from Nestle, who will be next to follow?  There is definitely a market out there, and as the average age of the population rises and people live longer it’s an area of the market that is likely to grow in size. I hope they’ve got the packaging right though – easy to open closure and legible text will be a must! (Jane)

Nestlé has launched a 200mL nutrient drink in Switzerland targeting the malnourished elderly – a segment of the population it says is deficient in key nutrients such as vitamin D, calcium and protein.

via Nestlé target elderly with high-dose drink.

A portable, talking barcode scanner from Matthews will make life easier for Australia’s vision impaired.

The scanner, known as ID Mate, can help the blind and low visioned at home, school or work — and even while doing the groceries.

ID Mate has been released by Visual Independence, a not-for-profit Australian charity set up to bring happiness through using assistive technology to those who are blind or live with low vision.

Visual Independence is managed through an all-voluntary advisory committee from Vision Australia, Guide Dogs Victoria, GS1 Australia and Matthews Intelligent Identification.

Visual Independence’s Bernie Slagtman says ID Mate is an exciting step forward that would allow the vision impaired to become more independent and empowered in their daily lives.

ID Mate uses Omni directional technology to scan an item’s barcode. Users then listen to spoken descriptions from the scanner’s database, which holds details of more than one million Australian bar code products.

via Talking barcode scanner from Matthews.

Confusion still reigns over the use of food packaging containing Bisphenol A.

The food standards agency in Australia and New Zealand seem to think that the risk is ‘very low and does not pose a significant health risk’

The Food and Drug Administration in America announced on Friday last week that they feel it’s use is ‘now of some concern’ – they would like to see it’s used phased out in the food and drink area.

The European Food Safety Authority has said that it wants to discuss the FDA’s announcement and the UK Food Standard Agency says that it’s position remains unchanged and feels that the amount of BPA in food packaging “is well below levels considered harmful.”

Looks like this subject could carry on rumbling for quite a while before a consensus is reached – in the meantime, it might be best to ensure any new food and drink products you develop/launch have packaging that doesn’t contain BPA (Jane)

via EFSA to evaluate FDA decision on bisphenol A.

via Bisphenol A (BPA) and food packaging (January 2010) – Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

Interesting article.  I believe the biggest majority of the packaging will be manufactured in the country, but if you have the technology/machinery for sale it might be worth you considering India as your next target market.  Their upgrades and increased sophistication will have to come from somewhere.  (Jane)

Food packaging in India will undergo huge changes in the next five years as companies increasingly use it as an important vehicle for product differentiation, said a report from Datamonitor.

via India set for food packaging revolution.

“Innovation is the key to our industry breaking out of recession, says Keith Barnes, chairman of IoP: The Packaging Society”, a subject that is ‘dear to my heart’. There is much rhetoric spouted from many quarters (not just the packaging industry for that matter) who only pay ‘lip service’ to innovation. In these recessionary times it is sad to see that true ‘innovation’ either ‘thrown out of the window’  totally or is put ‘on the back burner’ in anticipation of ’sunnier days’. Luckily some companies have had the foresight to see beyond the present ‘mire’ and are using innovation (in product developments, processes and the way they think) to position themselves and their brands in such a way that they will be ‘ahead of the pack’ when the economic climate has improved. Indeed, at Design Cognition, we are lucky enough to be working with some of these forward-thinking companies and I ‘tip my hat’ to them. If you’d like further information on particular areas of innovation and how Design Cognition can help, you can find out more and contact us here: Design Cognition Innovation

Chris Penfold

In his article, Keith says “Despite being the world’s third largest industry, packaging is still sadly perceived by the vast majority of people as  cardboard boxes and wrapping paper. As chairman of The Packaging Society, and with the industry’s support, I am determined to change this image. With the best will in the world, this will not happen overnight. What’s more, the task is going to be made increasingly difficult by so many companies and individuals focusing on their survival in the current economic climate.”

Sourced from Packaging News 6th January 2010, Keith Barnes

You can read the full article here: The enigma of  packaging innovation