Abstract: Method and apparatus for enabling fluid material contained in a package to be examined in a non-destructive manner to see whether there is any unacceptable alteration in the material. This examination is accomplished by shaking the package so that the package and its contents vibrate at the natural resonance frequency thereof, exposing the package to an irradiation of ultra-soft X-ray beams while the package is vibrating at the resonant frequency, either immediately after the package contents begin to be agitated by shaking or immediately after the vibration is stopped and it ceases to be agitated, detecting the strength of X-rays transmitted through the package and its contents, coverting the transmitted X-rays to a corresponding analog signal, and determining any alteration by comparing the analog signal against the refernece signal previously obtained in the same manner as described above for a like package with unaltered contents.

Abstract: The invention provides an ultrasonic method of inspecting contents (fluid food, for instance) of a package by disposing an ultrasonic transmitter-receiver system on at least one side of the package and evaluating the occurrence or degree of degradation of the contents on the basis of output data from the system. The invention also provides an ultrasonic apparatus for inspecting contents of a package which comprises a shaking device for feeding and shaking the package, an ultrasonic device disposed independently and downstream of the shaking device, and a guide device for feeding the package downstream of the shaking device to the ultrasonic device and further downstream.

Abstract: There is disclosed an apparatus and method for inspecting the contents, such as food, of a package, particularly a light-opaque package, for degradation or the degree of degradation by means of ultra-soft X-rays. The inspection apparatus generally comprises a shaking unit for shaking the package and a main inspecting unit disposed downstream and independently of the shaking unit. The assessment of degradation of the degree of degradation can be made according to the state of dispersion, after shaking, of the package head space in the X-ray image information. The method and apparatus eliminate losses arising from destructive inspection.

Abstract: A film laminate for flexible containers capable of containing a product to be maintained and removed under sterile conditions. The film laminate having an outside layer of linear low density polyethylene, a gas barrier layer, a core layer of polyamide, and an inside layer of linear low density polyethylene. The layers being bonded together by a polyurethane adhesive.