Voridian, a division of Eastman Chemical, has introduced a PET resin that provides ultraviolet (UV) light protection for food, beverage, cosmetic, household, personal care and pharmaceutical products.

Vitiva PET PC715 contains an FDA-approved UV absorber that protects delicate colours, flavours, vitamins and nutrients in custom packaging applications.

“Vitiva PET combines solid UV light protection with superior technical performance while maintaining the crystal optical clarity of PET,” says Lavonna Buehrig, Voridian market manager.

Voridian says UV light can adversely affect the natural and synthetic pigments and dyes, vitamins, lipids, fatty acids, and flavours found in a wide range of products. Containers made from the new PET will block virtually all UV light from 320-370 nanometers.

Vitiva PET is also said to offer “significant processing advantages”, being capable of efficient blow-moulding output rates and accommodating 1-, 1.5- and 2-stage bottle production.

The company says the resin’s UV inhibitor produces no plateout on moulds or dryers and can be processed using existing injection-moulding and/or blow-moulding tooling.