food Marketing & Technology 3/2021

Packaging
With an interested customer (Pano)
and a purchaser (Dittmann), there was
a perfect combination available as
required for launching new products:
expertise and the requisite plants for
manufacturing the seals on the one
hand and a manufacturer of branded
goods on the other. These initiative
partners provided the requisite
technology boost and market pull for
making such a lengthy and complex
development a lasting and sustainable
success. And a contribution was
also made by the collaboration with
Actega, Grevenbroich. After all, a
Twist-Off ® seal not only comprises the
metal cover and the sealant material
but also adhesive inside varnishes
and exterior lacquers. Many different
raw materials had to be tested first in
order to establish how the materials
relate to each other. And the premise
was also to develop BPA-free materials
– another challenge, particularly with
regard to resistance to acidic filling
goods. These BPA-free adhesive
varnishes are now available today.
The material formulations developed
need to be tested and examined
extensively, including in terms of their
processability and function. Initially,
there was only one laboratory machine
available which glued the compound
(today: ring-liner technology) into
empty shells which were then sent
to Pano for rolling on before coming
back to us. Development of a hand
tool made it possible to shorten
these lengthy development routes
somewhat but it was still anything
but optimal. Today, the Actega team
can look forward to a new Sacmi
plant which is to be available within
2021, making it possible to react even
faster, more effectively, and more
targetedly to market requirements.
What’s more, entire steam-vacuum
sealing machines and pasteurization
chambers are also available, enabling
us to depict the entire closure
manufacture about bottling, closing,
heat treatment. Which means it will
be possible to adapt the PVC-free seals
to the respective legislation or market
situation in the years and decades to
come even faster. Major investments
and the extensive expertise developed
as a result, enabling the realization of
innovative products and top customer
service, are the keys for long-term
success.
The first area of application
entailed oily products in the area of
delicatessen products, e.g. pepperonis
in oil. Practically a niche launch. This
was soon joined by cold-filled products
such as cheese cubes in oil which
represented yet another challenge as
it entailed filling under cold conditions.
A new compound had to be developed
for this application – one which would
stay tight yet be easy to open after
storage in the refrigerator. The topic
of sterilization was also broached at
an early stage, e.g. as required for
olives, classic sausages etc. This in
turn shifted the focus to jar stacking.
Answers were required concerning the
sealing results on fast-moving plants
as well as particularly soft materials
requiring less steam yet sealing equally
well. Other requirements arising from
the market are implemented optimally
following intensive examination.
Accordingly, the existing portfolio
has been steadily improved and will
continue to be further optimized.
What started as a niche product is now
a firm component within the market.
But this market is constantly in motion.
New challenges can arise at any time,
e.g. on the part of the filling industry,
where the topic of sterilization has
already been under discussion for
some time now in terms of increasing
the temperature to reduce the time
for sterilization. Or on the part of
the legislative bodies if, for example,
materials such as additives in food
contact are evaluated differently by
the FDA or the EU or there is a shift in
migration limits. Or the glass currently
undergoing a renaissance will be
replaced by containers made of PET
or polycarbonate in the future. These
are all key stimuli for innovations
and new developments offering
the filling company benefits such as
improved handling, more extensive
areas of application, the elimination
of unknowns concerning regulations,
and much more.
The development has attracted
a certain degree of attention in
the market which has also led to
PROVALIN ® receiving several awards.
In 2011, PVC-free sealing systems
in Actega’s Altana division won the
annual Altana Innovation Award. This
prize was awarded for PROVALIN ®
and the corresponding varnish
systems. Also in 2011, in the “Design
and Processing” category, the “PVCfree
cam screw cap Pano Blue Seal
powered by PROVALIN ® ” received
the German Packaging Award. The
heart piece of this seal is formed
by the PVC-free PROVALIN ® sealing
compound. This was the first time
a PVC-free seal was established in
this market segment. Following a
development phase extending over
many years on the complex Press-
On Twist Off ® seal project and an
extremely time-intensive test and trial
time, the SOPURE 51 seal by Pelliconi
with the PVC-free PROVALIN ® sealing
compound has been in commercial
use since early 2018. It received the
Canmaker Gold Award for the PVCfree
Press-on Twist-off ® seal for baby
food within the framework of the Can
of the Year Award. Since 2020, this
compound has been offered under
the name of ACTGreen ® PROVALIN ®
for better identification as a green
sealing ring. Now with more than two
billion twist-off seals per year on the
European market, the PVC-free seal
has meanwhile achieved a general
market penetration.
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food Marketing & Technology • June 2021 45