One of the design points of a packaging solution is to make it resistant to external factors, especially in the protection against harmful light.
Harmful light will not only cause degradation of many light sensitive components that are critical to human health and performance, but will also shorten the shelf life of the product.
Product spoilage will lead to increased costs, and the special requirements for the storage and transportation of these products also lead to an increase in the cost of the supply chain.
As a result, manufacturers are urgently looking for packaging solutions that can reduce or prevent light from affecting sensitive product ingredients.
Why light is destructive to certain food ingredients?
Some light in the ultraviolet and visible range can cause selective damage to many chemicals.
For example, ultraviolet light accelerates the degradation of some medical products, especially vitamins and antibiotics. When they are exposed to ultraviolet light, they may decompose, discolor and lose efficacy, and even turn into harmful and toxic substances.
In other cases, UV light also accelerates the aging of some nutrients (eg Omega-3 fatty acids).
In addition, anti-aging ingredients in cosmetics are particularly sensitive to light in the 380 nm wavelength range, and they may rapidly decompose and fail when exposed to sunlight.
Therefore, the storage method and application environment are the decisive factors for the efficacy of the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
Evidence has shown that light has a strong degradative effect on the vitamin E components in certain medical product tablets.
Therefore, packaging manufacturers either introduce opaque packaging materials or use other innovative methods to reduce the damage.
Method One - Increase External Packaging
A common practice to achieve effective light protection is to add a carton pack to the outside of the glass bottle product. The carton has a cushioning effect that prevents damage to the bottle during transport. Its opacity blocks all light and protects the contents of the bottle. Prevent the adverse effects of light exposure.
Method Two - Using Opaque Container Materials
Many container bottles are opaque white, with white pigments that reflect or absorb more than 90% of light, significantly reducing light damage.
Methods one and two prevent light from entering the package through opaque materials. However, these methods are limited in applications such as infusion catheters. In these applications, the material must be transparent in order to visually inspect the air bubbles in the solution in the catheter and whether it is flowing properly. .
Some make-up brands want to show customers the products in the package to reflect product appeal and aesthetics. When using opaque or colored materials and incorporating colorants into plastics, this leads to the problem that these colorants will migrate. If it passes through the inner layer of the packaging material and enters the nutrition itself, this migration will cause concern.
People will require regulatory inspections of colorants and other additives to ensure that they do not harm the human body. Due to the dangers of colorant migration, many countries have issued regulations to specify tests for colorant migration.
This is especially true in China, where regulations in this area are more stringent than in other Asian countries. Therefore, packaging manufacturers need to look for alternative packaging design methods that can meet regulations.
The opaque properties of packaged products are also limited in nutraceutical applications because this will prevent the clinician from seeing the contents. For example, the doctor must see the flow of the drug in the tubing and the infusion bag to ensure the proper amount of the drug solution. Enter the body.
Finally, the transparency requirements of these products limit the design and colorants that can be used for packaging materials.
There are two other production methods available today that allow manufacturers to use transparent packaging.
Method 3 - Adding Photoprotectors Directly into the Product
Food grade anti-aging agents can be added directly to specific foods to provide maximum protection without affecting the production process, taste and color.
However, not all such products have a food or pharmaceutical grade. Even with these grades, some of them have an effect on the color and fluidity of the product. Although they have been shown to have no adverse health effects, anti-photo-aging agents are not subject to consumption. Welcome.
Method Four - Use Specific Packaging Materials
While maintaining transparency, it selectively blocks unfavorable light foods. Some chemicals in medicines and cosmetics are only sensitive to light of a specific wavelength. Therefore, if the wavelength is blocked, it can provide effective protection.
In addition, because other wavelengths are not blocked, a certain degree of transparency can be maintained. For example, if light of a wavelength of 430-450 nm (blue light) is blocked, the transmitted light will be a compensating color of blue, ie, yellow, showing a transparent yellow color. In this method, the color and transparency of the package will differ depending on the light being blocked.
The following are two examples of color masterbatch light shielding solutions.
1. Medicinal components enter the body through a medical infusion system to treat diseases. Infusion fluids usually consist of many medicinal ingredients and are usually stored in hospital pharmacies and stored in opaque packaging cartons. Once opened and added to infusion bottles, they will be under the light. Exposure for 1-2 hours, during which time some medicinal ingredients (especially biologically active drugs) may degrade or have varying degrees of failure.
Adding 2% light protection concentrate to the masterbatch during production not only satisfies FDA pharmaceutical grade requirements, but also provides protection against light exposure.
The infusion system is also transparent, so doctors can clearly see the flow of liquids, allowing them to control the flow rate in time.
2. The bottle containing edible oil is made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate). PET is a kind of thermoplastic plastic with the desired transparency and oil resistance.
Edible oils usually contain unsaturated fatty acids (also known as polyenoic acids). Unsaturated fatty acids are the main components of many nutritional combinations (such as Omega-3) and oils.
However, in the sun it is easily damaged by 350–420nm light and deteriorates. Therefore, under normal circumstances, the shelf life of bottled oil is about 1 year.
Adding 2% light-shielding color concentrate at the time of PET bottle production enables the bottle to shield light in the wavelength range of 350–420nm in sunlight, with a screening rate of over 90%, and to increase the life of unsaturated fatty acids to more than two years.
to sum up
The oxidative degradation of health and food ingredients has received more and more attention. Not only does the cost increase due to shortened shelf life and increased damage, but more importantly, it may pose risks to human health and well-being.
So we need to face the need to prevent or slow down the oxidative degradation, and design a package that can prevent light from reaching its contents. The direction is clear, although there are already many solutions available on the market, we have found that Some programs have limitations.
Uses a color masterbatch containing a light-shielding additive, which reduces light penetration at specific wavelengths while maintaining the transparency of the finished product.