Scotland-based Long Life Solutions (LLS) claims its “modified interactive packaging” (MIP) technology for fresh produce will “mark the end of shrinkwrapped cucumbers and broccoli”, help slash airfreight carbon emissions and ensure goods stay fresher for longer.
The East Lothian company, which will this month see significant launches by top UK supermarkets, received support in commercialising the technology from the government-backed Waste Resources Action programme (WRAP) based on its ability to reduce food wastage and packaging weight.
Suitable for flexible and rigid packs, with manufacture so far outsourced to America’s Flexol Packaging and the UK’s Britton Merlin and Sharp Interpack, LLS reportedly affords anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. The monolayer film is based on a volcanic ash resin, extruded and with a honeycomb structure that makes it permeable and flexible, and is reportedly “ideal” for packaging all fresh fruit and vegetables as well as cheese and bread. The interactive element allows products to “define their own gas and air exchanges”, in effect setting its own atmosphere to “make itself comfortable”. The packaging thus effectively adjusts the suspended animation within the container under changing conditions, for instance, when the temperature changes when produce is transferred from back-of-store to shelf.
Andrew Wright, LLS ceo, says that for the food supply chain, MIP is the “next-step generation” beyond modified atmosphere packaging, and UK multiples appear enthusiastic too. The “breathable” Smart Punnet for strawberries is “a market first” this month (September) going into UK Somerfield stores, with Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s set to conduct trials “imminently”. Tested with strawberries, the punnet provided product protection “beyond the normal two to five-day period and, LLS says, should extend maximum product life to 25-30 days “with perfect post-harvest cool chain management, “even under serious abuse conditions” such as high transit temperatures.
Also this month, Morrisons will unveil its LLS SmartBag Fresh Greens produce bags, the first branded “SmartBag” launched with the packaging technology company’s name on the bag.
Wright adds: “We have also worked with a leading UK flower importer, World Flowers, helping it switch from air freighting its flowers from Kenya and South Africa to the UK to transporting them in LLS packaging, first by road and then, thanks to their longer life, ship, in the process eliminating 3,000 flights a year. Calculations indicate this has saved the equivalent of sixty million tonnes of aviation fuel and sixty billion tonnes of CO² emissions.”