I spend a lot of time thinking about product longevity, but today I realized that attending conferences like IFT17 extends MY longevity! As I headed off to vacation after the show, I realized how lucky I am that the conference refreshes my drive and continues to extend my commitment.
It was a true pleasure to mix and mingle at IFT with the other IFT Fellows. I am honored to have been chosen as an IFT Fellow this year and be a part of IFT for almost 30 years!
This last month hasn't been all play though, I’ve been busy juggling several science advisor and value chain projects to extend shelf live to fresh fruits and vegetables. Not too busy to provide context for the Washington Post writer who reached out. Check out his article which offers great exposure to what we are working to accomplish in food waste reduction!
Special congratulations to Jeff Rhodehamel on receiving the 2017 Riester Davis Brody award at IFT17 from the Food Packaging Division!
– Claire
- Industry Update - Packaging for an Innovative Future at FaB CEO Briefing
August 15, 2017 at 12:20 pm
Neenah, Wisconsin
An executive level briefing designed to facilitate peer discussions about to develop packaging for an innovative future. Learn More>
Save the date for PACK EXPO, Las Vegas, September 25—27, 2017.Learn more>
- IFT 17 Key Takeaways-
Packaging advances in sustainability, nano-enabled packaging and active packaging for clean label products were all showcased at IFT. A few of the conferences highlights for me included:
1. Gordon Robertson’s presentation the role of Biobased in enabling more sustainable plastic packaging. His thoughts on polyethylene furanoate and polytrimethylene furandicarboxylate and other bioderived and recyclable but not biodegradable polymers as a major solution to increase the sustainability of packaging. Basically, producing, using and recycling and reusing bioderived polymers, is much more sustainable than degradable polymers that cannot be reused again and require energy to degrade. Research on the material science of packaging, gaining increased shelf life, seal integrity, reclose features, increasing barrier properties, enabling faster filling and sealing production speeds, and the list goes on is much needed. I’m so grateful our industry has people like Gordon in it.
2. Seeing the research of students was energizing as well and research poster winners were: 1st place -Ziynet Boz, University of Florida, 2nd place-Yupeng Gao, Louisiana State University, and 3rd place-Zhuangsheng (Jason) Lin from Cornell.
3. Another highlight was Tony Jin describing the effectiveness of nanodispersions of zinc and magnesium oxides and titanium dioxide within packaging to reduce microbial activity.
Want to discuss something you were inspired by at IFT but need help to actualize? Let’s connect!
- Vetting Food Packaging -
Product deterioration. Sorption. Predictable Shelf Life. Testing. Having a great product is just part one to the equation to offering customers a great consumption experience…and to companies saving big bucks! Maximizing shelf life requires a delicate balance – have you optimized your packaging to provide that? Check out my June column “Vetting Food Packaging” from Food Technology for some things to think about!
Interested in discussing this article in more detail? Let’s talk! Email or Call me at 612-807-5341
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