Cereal
Since the contents are generally not consumed all at once, reclosability is a highly desirable feature. Dry ready-to-eat cereal needs to be safeguarded from
- Loss of flavour components
- Changes in moisture content
- Unwanted flavours/doors from added from the environment.
Plastic film inside a paperboard box meets these requirements. The film is a two mil (2 mm) thick co-extrusion of HDPE and EVA. At low cost, HDPE provides sufficient moisture barrier (about 0.3 g-mil/100 in2 day) together with toughness to withstand puncturing by sharp-edged particles. Where added ingredients require additional oxygen protection, EVOH or nylon are included in the co-extrusion.
Rice
With regard to plain rice, containment is a key package function, for which plastic bags and paper-board boxes are utilized. LDPE/LLDPE are the most frequently used packaging films that impart strength for 20 pounds of product besides offering puncture-resistance. At the same time, heat becomes sealable at a reduced cost. Most common include combinations of both, with LLDPE being utilized for further robustness. The dual-layer laminate causes the reverse-printing of the outer layer wherein the inner layer carries on the heat seal function.
As far as flavoured aromatic rice is concerned, a vacuum brick package using a 4.5 mil PET/nylon/LDPE construction or a PET/EVA pouch is used for providing an improved door barrier
Pasta
This product’s packaging is done from pouches produced from two layers of OPP films (adhesively laminated) with more attractive optical properties than the less expensive films which also exhibit the requisite printability and mechanical traits.
