As good as glass

Long and thorough barrier tests carried out by Superfos are claimed to have established that plastic can provide as effective a barrier as glass.

One of the Superfos test examples was red cabbage. Sealed within a SuperFlex container with barrier labels, membrane and a membrane lid, the red cabbage kept both its colour and freshness for 27 months. With ordinary plastic containers, red cabbage usually turns brown after four months, but the test showed hardly any difference in colour after more.

“This is a huge step forward and it proves that the freshness and durability of plastic containers is much longer with barrier labels and membrane and that it can actually compete equally with glass when it comes to food containing,” claimed Lars Skjold Frederiksen, Superfos Project Manager.

Other tests showed that products which are usually contained in glass packaging, such as marmalade, pickles and beetroots, are able to stay fresh inside a Superfos container for more than 18 months without losing their colour and taste.

“These test results prove that plastic packaging is able to compete with glass. So far, shelf life has been the biggest hurdle for converting from glass to plastic, but now new options arise for our customers. They are able to optimise their production because the empty packaging does not take up as much space in stock, noise is lowered and the security level is improved compared to glass, because there is no risk of broken glass in the product. Finally, it reduces CO₂ emissions from transport because of the weight reduction and better pallet utilisation,” explains Lars Skjold Frederiksen.