Food & Drink

In the modern market, the majority of food and drinks are packaged in ready-prepared form to preserve the contents, but at the same time, are easily opened. The growing popularity of single-use packaging, coupled with the tightening of environmental regulations, has burdened the manufacturers to design packaging in an efficient way, without a lot of waste of the material, that is fully functional. This causes physical testing of food and drink packaging to be an important aspect of quality control and customer satisfaction.

Key considerations include the following:

• Consumer convenience: Food packaging must be easy to peel open while maintaining a secure seal—‘maximum seal, minimum peel’ must be verified.
• Retort pouches: These have to withstand puncture forces and, at the same time, allow puncture-torn-off perforations to be reliably opened by the consumer.
• Plastic bottles and containers: Plastic bottles should require minimal material, yet they should be able to withstand the force of filling, handling, and stacking; top load tests are used to test structural integrity.
• Caps and closures: Torque testing is provided so that the twist-off closures do not require much effort to open and seal without any compromise to sealing integrity, especially for older consumers.
• Aerosols and ring-pulls: Spray cans and beverage cans must activate safely with appropriate finger pressure; ring-pulls should open without excessive force to prevent injury.

As packaging becomes more intricate and aesthetically designed, it often becomes more challenging to grip and test.

Presto Stantest provides precision force and torque measurement systems along with custom fixtures for testing all types of packaging. Our solutions allow manufacturers to apply industry-standard test methods during both product development and production-line quality control.

The Emperor control and analysis software offers reliable, accurate, and repeatable testing at the push of a button, enabling testing against both company-specific standards and international norms, including ASTM, ISO, DIN, Afera, FEFCO, FINAT, PSTC, TAPPI, CEN, and TLMI.

Interested in Texture Analysis?

With over 42 years of experience in the design and manufacture of texture analyzers, texture presses, and tenderometers, Presto Stantest also offers solutions for assessing product texture. More details are available on our dedicated Texture Analyzers site.