Packaging that communicates

Food producers and retailers already use packaging design to communicate with their customers, although mostly on a rather limited level – by using flashy, eye catching designs. There is, however, a way to ensure that the consumer does more than just glance at a pack.

Smart packaging indicators allow food manufacturers and retailers to add a real benefit to their products – other than what is in the pack. There are a number of types of smart packaging indicators: time-temperature indicators (TTI) show whether food is fresh; smart colours appear when an oven or microwave heated meal has reached a suitable temperature; and the widely used thermochromics show that a beverage is sufficiently chilled.

Smart indicators change the way in which the industry collaborates. Only if raw material suppliers, converters and food producers all work together can the technical and commercial hurdles be overcome. The smart packaging business always means a significant investment for them all. However, it also allows differentiation from competitors and the establishment of partnerships with customers where price is not the sole topic of discussion.

Every time Ciba has introduced indicators in the past few years it was primarily in close co-operation with converters and other players in the industry. And the reaction was always the same – consumers love smart packaging.

Reversible thermochromics: most people have already come across this range of smart indicators – usually in the form of a design that appears on a beer label when the beer is sufficiently chilled. Ciba supplies materials for this type of smart indicator, which was the first to be used on a food package. There are only a limited number of applications for these specific indicators, but they demonstrate how smart indicators can make life easier.

Time-temperature indicators: OnVu is a range of TTIs that monitor freshness. They are applied as stand-alone labels on the food packaging.

In the US alone, the World Trade Organisation estimates that there are more than 76mn cases of food-borne disease a year, leading to 325,000 hospitalisations and more than 5,000 deaths. At the same time, in most western countries more than 30 per cent of all food produced is disposed of unused. The human suffering as well as the large amount of waste have many causes – the most important problem, however, is breaches in the cool chain.

The enormous costs of these only add to the human suffering – and both could be prevented.

Through a simple colour change from dark blue to colourless, OnVu TTIs show whether the cool chain has been maintained and the food is therefore still fresh. Apart from acting as a quality assurance tool, they have a strong marketing benefit – they tell the consumer, and the retailer, whether the food on sale is fresh. Surveys in the UK and Germany have shown that consumers not only want such a product, but also that they are willing to pay a premium for it. They would always select a product with an OnVu TTI label over one without.

These TTIs are already being used on fresh food products: Ernst Kneuss Geflügel, a Swiss company that sells fresh poultry, is now the first producer in Central Europe to use the OnVu freshness detector (see picture).

Irreversible thermochromics: microwave and oven heatable ready-to-eat meals are becoming more and more popular with consumers. However, as microwaves and ovens differ strongly in the amount of heat they really generate, food is frequently overcooked or still cold on the inside when it is thought to be ready.

Ciba is currently developing an irreversible thermochromic technology that allows the food producer to add to the outside of the food pack a design that appears only when the product is really ready to eat. Irreversible thermochromics are based on normal printing inks and can be integrated into any existing food package.

Conductive inks such as Ciba’s Xymara Electra have already been used for some time to print antennas for RFID inlays. However, these inks are also the basis for an application that might be regarded as science fiction now, but will be possible someday in the future.

Packages will really be able to communicate, providing information on ingredients, potential menus, or even indicating that a food is spoiled. Many companies in the electronics field are already working on products such as printable low cost displays – this is the smart packaging of the future.

Smart indicators allow food producers to create an additional benefit for their product on the pack. It is only a matter of time before TTIs and other smart indicators are found on a large number of products in every supermarket.

Martin Angehrn is head of marketing and sales OnVu, Ciba