1 Opportunities for Improving the Quality of Packaged Consumer Products with the Use of Le Mac’s Light Shield Sleeve.

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Opportunities for Improving the Quality of

Packaged Consumer Products with the Use of

Le Mac’s

Light Shield Sleeve

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BACKGROUND

In the consumer packaged goods industry, product development and packaging professionals face the continual challenge of developing optimal combinations of product formulations and package designs capable of delivering consistent value propositions to the intended consumer segment.

Among the essential elements of any brand’s value proposition are the basic product features of colour, flavour or fragrance, and nutritional or functional value. Delivery on the promise of a brand requires that the consumer perceive these elements to be consistent, regardless of the place or time of consumption.

Brand stewards recognise the value of ensuring that a product retains its desired benefits not only throughout its distribution and retail presentation but also during the expected post-purchase storage period and until the completion of consumption.

Addressing the shelf-life issue is particularly challenging in today’s beverage industry, where many players are pursuing growth through the development of new products that create and cater to new consumption occasions. The result is strong growth in several categories including juices, energy drinks, vitamin-enhanced functional beverages, teas, and dairy beverages.

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LIGHT SENSITIVITY OF CRITICAL PRODUCT INGREDIENTS

Certain products packed in clear and translucent containers can be negatively affected by visible and ultraviolet light radiation

Visible Light• Light present in the visible spectrum, ROY-G-BIV.• Classified as light with wavelength of 380 to 740 nm.• Does not cause direct damage to beverages.• Causes damage by affecting certain sensitizers present in beverages.

Ultraviolet Light• Higher energy, shorter wavelength than visible light.• Classified as light with wavelength of 10 to 380 nm.• Higher energy causes more damage than visible light.• UV light present in sunlight causes sunburns.

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LIGHT SENSITIVITY OF CRITICAL PRODUCT INGREDIENTS

Sources of Visible & Ultraviolet Light:

• Artificial Lighting

– Refrigerated cases

– Store shelves

• Sunlight

– During transport and distribution

– Through shop windows

– Incidental exposure after purchase

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INGREDIENTS DAMAGED BY VISIBLE & UV LIGHT

Many ingredients are independently unstable in the

presence of UV. Others, however, show stability to UV

in isolation but become unstable when formulated with

other ingredients.

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Colour is a prominent and defining attribute of most consumer

products. Consumers can readily observe slight inconsistencies in

product colour and may perceive them as indications of poor

quality.

In the US, 7 synthetic dyes are approved for general food use and

more than 30 are approved for general use in cosmetics.

Although many of these dyes independently exhibit favourable

stability to UV light, they have been shown to be unstable to light

when formulated with certain ingredients.

For example, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is frequently added to

beverages to scavenge dissolved oxygen that can attack certain

flavour components. However, the presence of ascorbic acid in

beverages containing certain synthetic colorants can result in

rapid fading upon exposure to UV light.

The presence of trace metals can also have a destabilizing effect

on the synthetic colorants.

The various natural colorants approved for general food use vary

widely in their stability to light. Turmeric, beet, elderberry, annatto,

and paprika extracts are most sensitive to light-induced

degradation.

(1) UV Sensitivity of Colourant Ingredients

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Consumers are demanding greater variety and fusion of flavour elements in food and beverages. Similarly, in personal care and household cleaning products, fragrance ingredients can lead to a diminished sensory profile and also to the formation of unpleasant off-notes detectable by taste and smell at low concentrations. The most common example of this is the lemon aroma complex which is widely used across a range of products in beverages, food, and other consumer products.

One of the significant contributors to lemon flavour, and also one of the most photosensitive, is “citral”. Upon exposure to UV light, citral degrades into several by products including “photocitral-A” and “photocitral-B”. Citrus beverages are often packaged in green bottles to protect against this but as tests conducted by Milliken Chemical show the formation of photocitral-A occurs rapidly in both clear and green PET bottles with the accompanying onset of detectable off-flavour.

(2) UV Sensitivity of Flavour and Fragrance Ingredients

Milliken concluded protection against wavelengths up to at least 390 nm is required to retain the integrity of the citrus flavour package and this cannot be achieved with either green or standard clear PET bottles.

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In recent years consumer demand has been driving the

supplementary inclusion of many vitamins and nutrients in

beverage, food, and personal care products as a means of

delivering new and differentiated sets of benefits to

targeted consumer segments.

Vitamins and nutrients are generally sensitive to the effects

of temperature, oxygen, and light. Slight change in the

molecular structure of a nutrient can render it biologically

ineffective. The following vitamins are known to be

specifically vulnerable to degradation by UV light:

Vitamin A, B2 (riboflavin), B6, B12, and folic acid.

Light also accelerates the destructive interaction between

vitamins. As an example, the degradation of both folic acid

and vitamin C is accelerated by the combined presence of

riboflavin and light. This effect, for example, is the cause

of Vitamin C degradation in milk exposed to light.

(3) UV Sensitivity of Vitamins and Nutrient Ingredients

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(4) Specific Effects of Light On Milk

When milk is exposed to light, the following are consequences:

• Loss of vitamins• If flavoured, changes to flavour profiles • Protein oxidation (with resultant burnt flavour or burnt

feathers flavour)• Lipid oxidation (with cardboard / metallic off flavour)

Riboflavin (Vit B2)• Riboflavin is photosensitiser for protein and lipid oxidation • When milk is exposed to light in the presence of Riboflavin, off flavours develop.• If milk is not exposed to light, no off flavours develop• If Riboflavin is removed and the milk is exposed to light, no off flavours develop.

Absorption Spectrum of Riboflavin

Where Riboflavin absorbs light and causes problems.

Options for protecting milk in non opaque containers.

An opaque barrier, effective across the UV and Visible spectra up to 530 nm is necessary (this blocks all radiation which affects riboflavin).

To protect Vitamin C content, a barrier across the UV and visible spectrum is required.

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The Light Shield material from Fuji Seal is an opaque

PET which:

• Can achieve top to toe bottle shielding on shapes

requiring up to 60% sleeve shrinkage.• Being PET is recycle friendly.• Being opaque hides settlement levels and scum marks.• Being opaque is unaffected by the colour of the bottle

contents.• Is a brilliant white for a vivid, visual impact and

accentuates the printed design resulting in improved

legibility especially for senior citizens.• Has zero MD shrink resulting in a low shrink force during

the shrinking process which produces:

No smiley faces A uniform shrink finish Makes the shrink process easy to control.

THE LE MAC / FUJI SEAL SOLUTION

Fuji Seal has developed the Light Shield Sleeve to

reduce the negative effects of light radiation on packaged

consumer products.

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The Light Shield Factor (LSF) can be varied through the printing process:Eg. LSF 380 – Light Shield Sleeve providing <5% transmission @ 380nm LSF 500 – Light Shield Sleeve + printing providing <5% transmission @ 500nm LSF 800 - Light Shield Sleeve + printing providing <5% transmission @ 800nm

The Performance of Light Shield Can Be Measured by the Light Shield Factor (LSF). This defines the wavelength at which 5% or less radiation is transmitted through the sleeve.

Light Transmission Curve

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From the Light Transmission graph above, the exceptional

performance of Light Shield can be clearly seen:

• Conventional transparent shrink sleeves transmit almost

20% of light radiation for wavelengths at 280nm and 90%

at 420nm or above. It has an approximate LSF of 270nm

ie <5% of light is transmitted @ 270nm.

• If this conventional film is reverse printed with 2 layers of

opaque white ink and one of silver the LSF rises to

approximately 380nm ie <5% of light is transmitted @

380nm. 30% is transmitted at 420mm increasing to

almost 50% @ 800nm.

• By contrast, Light Shield which also has a LSF of

380nm (<5% being transmitted up to 380nm) transmits

only 25% of light @ 800nm.

• If Light Shield is printed on the reverse side, the

transmission percentage decreases depending on the

colours chosen. In the case of black ink, the LSF is

800nm, ie less than 5% is transmitted @ 800nm.

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THE EXPERIENCE IN JAPAN

Since Light Shield was launched in Japan in 2004, the annual usage of Light Shield film has almost doubled to 150 tonnes.

Applications in the Japanese market include dairy beverages, vitamin enriched functional beverages, fruit juices, iced tea, Japanese sake, condiments and cosmetics.

Some examples are as follows:

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THE EXPERIENCE IN NORTH AMERICA

In 2007 Light Shield was adopted by Nestle, USA on its range of 300ml UHT flavoured milks filled in Mexico.

This is the first use of Light Shield outside Japan.

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Nestle’s requirement was many fold:

1. A maximum light transmission of 1% @ 800nm.

2. Extended shelf life to attain greater geographical

reach for product distribution.

3. Reduced transportation cost.

4. Reduced overall packaging cost.

5. Meet Walmart’s directive for reduced in store

packaging waste.

The American Fuji Seal Solution

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All these objectives were met:

1. An LSF of 800 nm with less than 1% light transmission was achieved with the use of a print enhanced Light Shield from American Fuji Seal.

2. This resulted in an extended product life (Data confidential to Nestle).3. Nestle changed to a UHT product which could be distributed using non-refrigerated trucks resulting in reduced transportation costs.4. Because of the extremely high LSF achieved with Light Shield, Nestle was able to change the secondary packaging for distribution from a full wrap-around carton to a half tray carton thereby significantly reducing secondary packaging costs.5. The move to a half tray carton resulted in significant reduction of in-store waste at Walmart.

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Specifying Light Shield sleeved bottles for qualified

applications represents an opportunity for brand

owners to realise value in several ways:

• Light shield can contribute substantially to extending

the shelf life of UV and visible light sensitive

formulations, thereby increasing the likelihood of a

consistent consumer experience, which in turn drives

brand loyalty.

• From a financial and risk perspective, Light Shield

provides an element of protection for the extensive

sums invested in product development, promotion, and

brand development. The cost of utilising Light Shield

translates into a small percentage of the retail price of

the product.

• Light Shield can give the product developer increased

flexibility by relaxing constraints on the need to

accomplish a UV-stable product through formulation

alone.

VALUE IMPLICATIONS OF Light Shield SLEEVES FOR BRAND OWNERS

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• Light Shield can contribute to new product

innovation allowing formulators to choose from

among UV-sensitive ingredients that previously were

avoided.

• Using Light Shield may alleviate the need to use

stabilising compounds as direct additives to the

formulation.

• Light Shield reduces the need to “overshoot”

loadings of UV-sensitive ingredient

• Light Shield gives packaging designers increased

flexibility in packaging aesthetics by utilising all the

traditional benefits of shrink sleeve decoration.

VALUE IMPLICATIONS OF Light Shield SLEEVES FOR BRAND OWNERS

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CONTACT DETAILS

The Le Mac Australia GroupCnr Railway Road North & Hudson Place

MULGRAVE NSW 2756

Tel: 02 4577 4799Fax: 02 4577 4379

Email: [email protected]: www.lemacaustralia.com.au