INDICATING PACKAGE
A package of oxygen sensitive product (10) has a body (5) a lid (15). The lid (15) includes a membrane (17), which incorporates ink (16), adapted to react to the presence or absence of a particular gas or mixture of gases in the headspace (25) of the package. The ink (16) is protected from the external environment by a barrier material (50, 51, 52), but is in fluid communication with the headspace (25). The barrier material (50, 51, 52) is chosen such that a user of the package may detect the reaction of the ink (16) through the barrier material.
The present invention relates to a package for holding products, which are sensitive to oxygen. In particular, the package incorporates ink, which shows whether the inside of the package has been exposed to air and hence oxygen, by a colour change or response to an external stimulus.
BACKGROUND ARTWhere a package contains a product, which is sensitive to oxygen, the package healspace (the space within the package not filled by the product) is conventionally flushed with inert gas (for example a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen) to remove the air and oxygen component thereof, prior to sealing the package. By removing the air from the headspace, deterioration of the product is minimised
Indicating inks, which exhibit a colour change in the presence of certain gases, also form part of the state of the art. For example
- Patent Citation 0001: US 2003199095 2003-10-23.
describes a material, which changes colour in the presence of a certain concentration of carbon dioxide and
- Patent Citation 0002: US 2004258562 2004-12-23.
23.12.2004 relates to a similar oxygen indicator, which changes colour in the presence of oxygen.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTIONThe present invention makes use of such inks in a package for products, which are sensitive to oxygen. Accordingly, the invention provides a package for an oxygen sensitive product having a body and a lid,
wherein the lid includes a gas bather material arranged facing the external environment, which may be opened by a user to gain access to the inside of the package. The invention is characterised in that the lid includes an ink, adapted to indicate the presence or absence of a particular gas or mixture of gases by a visible colour change or by using a measuring device. The ink is protected from the external environment by the barrier material, but is in fluid communication with the inside of the package and any change of the ink is visible to or measurable by a user of the package through the barrier material.
The package includes ink sensitive to the gases present in the headspace of the sealed package and visible to or measurable by a user of the package. The ink responds to specified changes to the composition of the headspace gases by either colour change or some other means. Thus, leaks and the resultant ingress of air (oxygen) may be detected. The bather material blocks the ink from exposure to the gases present in the surroundings thereby preserving the ink's state until it reacts to changes in the composition of gases within the headspace. The barrier material is sufficiently translucent or transparent that a user of the package may observe the colour or measure the response of the ink through the barrier material.
According to the invention, the ink is separated from the product and headspace gases, to avoid cross-contamination. This is of particular concern when packaging food products because of food contact issues. Such food contact issues are of particular concern when packaging food intended to be consumed by infants, for example milk powder. Such physical separation between the ink and the product must be made from a material, which is permeable to gas, thus enabling the ink to accurately respond to the headspace gases.
The conventional method for packaging products that are sensitive to oxygen includes flushing the headspace gases from the package with an inert mixture, for example carbon dioxide and nitrogen. In an embodiment of the invention, the inventors have exploited this process by incorporating ink into the package, which is sensitive to carbon dioxide. After flushing and sealing, the headspace gases within the package are abundant in carbon dioxide and the ink will thus turn the appropriate colour to indicate the presence of carbon dioxide. If the package leaks, the carbon dioxide present in the headspace will escape, to be replaced by air from the surroundings. Once the level of carbon dioxide reduces below a threshold level, the ink will change colour. This indicates to a user of the package that the seal has been compromised and the product has come into contact with air and may thereby have degraded.
As the user of the package may be unfamiliar with the colour change expected from the ink, a colour comparison portion on the outside of the package is preferably to provided. This allows a user of the package to easily identify whether or not the contents of the package has been exposed to air (oxygen) and may have thereby degraded.
In an alternative embodiment, ink that is sensitive to oxygen is used. This requires the headspace gases to be substantially free of oxygen. As existing oxygen inks are very sensitive, a scavenger is incorporated into the package to “scrub” the headspace of any oxygen remaining after the package is flushed and sealed. Existing oxygen sensitive inks have to be activated in some way (for example, by exposure to UV light) once the package is sealed and any remaining oxygen has been scrubbed from the headspace by the scavenger. Such sensitive inks and the additional process steps required to activate the inks may be relatively expensive and cost may be a prohibitive factor in certain applications. Although production of the package is more complex, the package thus produced is much more sensitive to the ingress of air (oxygen).
Another alternative embodiment of the invention also uses ink that is sensitive to oxygen, but in this case the oxygen concentration is measured by fluorescent emission from the ink The measurable response of the ink is dependent upon the concentration of oxygen within the headspace. Stimulating the ink using a device external to the package triggers the fluorescence response. Although this approach requires an external device to determine the oxygen concentration, a quantitative value of oxygen concentration is obtained and the necessity of scavenging residual oxygen from the headspace is no longer required.
The present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
made from a flat sheet of metal, which is formed into a cylinder. The two adjacent edges of the metal sheet are then seamed together to form a cylindrical body 5, having a side seam 6 and two open ends. A lid 15 closes one end of the cylindrical body 5 and the resulting hollow package is filled with a product 10, through the remaining open end. Where the product 10 is sensitive to oxygen (a constituent of air) an end 30 is loosely crimped to the open end after filling with the foodstuff 10. At this stage, the package remains unsealed and the headspace 25 above the surface of the foodstuff 10 is filled with air from the surroundings. The package is then flushed with a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen and the end 30 is sealed on to the can body 5 using a conventional double seaming process. The headspace 25 is now filled with the carbon dioxide and nitrogen mixture, to preserve the oxygen sensitive foodstuff.
Considering a container for dried milk powder, the lid 15 conventionally takes the form of a metal ring 19 and a membrane 17 that seals the orifice in the centre of the ring (as shown in
If this container leaks, carbon dioxide will escape from the headspace to be replaced by air from the surroundings. Once the level of carbon dioxide reduces to a threshold level, the ink will return to its first colour, indicating that the package has been compromised. Thus, in this example, the ink undergoes a reversible colour change depending upon whether or not the headspace contains a defined level of carbon dioxide.
A package according to an alternative embodiment is illustrated in
In a preferred example, a Palladium-group metal dispersed on a fibrous polymeric support provides the scavenger 18. The inventors chose a palladium type scavenger, because it enables the package to be produced and filled in a dry environment and is easy to handle. The palladium type scavenger 18 works via a catalytic process and requires the headspace 25 to be flushed with a modified atmosphere, which includes hydrogen. The hydrogen combines with any residual oxygen in the headspace gases to form water. If the gases used to flush the headspace 25 are a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen, a mixture with less that 5.7% hydrogen is classified as non-flammable according to ISO 10156. Hydrogen can be used as a “modified atmosphere gas” for packaging because it appears on the positive list of food additives under number E949 (directive 2001/5/EC).
The sealing membrane 17 may be provided as a laminate. For example, a laminate film suitable for detecting the levels of carbon dioxide in the headspace is illustrated in
In order for a user of the package to more clearly interpret the colour change of the ink, one or more comparison colours may be provided on the membrane 17 to indicate the colour of the relevant inks when the package is sealed and/or when the package has been compromised.
The preceding examples have been described in relation to a package having a cylindrical body 5 and two open ends sealed by a lid 15 and end 30—a so called “3-piece” can. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the body 5 may take the form of a shaped can and the can body 5 requires only one end, the lid, the other end being formed integrally with the side wall of the body—a so called “2-piece” can.
Claims
1. A package for an oxygen sensitive product comprising:
- a body that is impervious to gases,
- a lid sealed to the body incorporating a gas barrier material and arranged between the external environment and the body to form a gas sealed chamber for the product, and
- an ink adapted to react to the presence or absence of a particular gas or mixture of gases, the ink is protected from the external environment by the barrier material, the product is protected from the ink by a gas permeable material allowing fluid communication with the inside of the package, whereby
- the reaction of the ink is capable of detection by a user of the package through the barrier material.
2. A package according to claim 1, wherein the reaction of the ink is measured through the barrier material using an external device.
3. A package according to claim 1, wherein the reaction of the ink is a color change, which is visible though the barrier material.
4. A package according to claim 3, wherein the lid further includes a reference color against which the color of the ink may be compared.
5. A package according to claim 1, further including a filling aperture and a gas impermeable end (30) for sealing the filling aperture.
6. A package of oxygen sensitive product comprising:
- a body and a lid sealed to the body to encapsulate the product and a headspace therein,
- the lid including a gas barrier material arranged between the external environment and the body, and
- an ink adapted to react to the presence or absence of a particular gas or mixture of gases in the headspace, the ink is protected from the external environment by the barrier material and the inside of the package is protected from the ink 16 by a gas permeable material allowing fluid communication with the headspace.
7. A package of oxygen sensitive product according to claim 6, wherein
- the lid includes a gas permeable material arranged between the ink and the headspace.
8. A package of oxygen sensitive product according to claim 6, wherein the lid has a laminate structure, which includes a layer of barrier material, a layer incorporating the ink and a layer of gas permeable material.
9. A process for packaging an oxygen sensitive product comprising the steps of,
- securing a lid comprising an ink to a hollow body,
- filling the body with an oxygen sensitive product to define a headspace above the free surface of the product,
- flushing the headspace with a gas or mixture of gases, which cause the ink to adopt a first state so long as the headspace contains the gas or mixture of gases at a predetermined level.
10. A process for packaging an oxygen sensitive product according to claim 9, wherein the ink reacts in response to the level of carbon dioxide in the head space.
11. A process for packaging an oxygen sensitive product according to claim 9 wherein the ink reacts in response to the presence of a defined level of oxygen in the headspace and the lid further includes an oxygen scavenger,
- flushing the headspace with a gas or mixture of gases after filling with a product to substantially remove air from the headspace any remaining oxygen being removed by the scavenger, and
- activating the ink so that it responds to a defined level of oxygen in the headspace.
12. A process for packaging an oxygen sensitive product according to claim 11, wherein the scavenger is a palladium catalyst and the headspace is flushed with a mixture of gases containing hydrogen, which reacts with any oxygen remaining in the headspace to form water.
13. A process for packaging an oxygen sensitive product according to claim 11, where the oxygen sensitive ink is activated by exposure to UV light.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 28, 2007
Publication Date: Jun 16, 2011
Inventors: Michael Alexander Cochran (Oxfordshire), Michel Marie Philippe (Bourg les Valence)
Application Number: 12/305,556
International Classification: B65D 85/00 (20060101);