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Food Packaging Centre

Food Packaging Centre

The Food Packaging Centre, at Loughry Campus, provides a modern resource for evaluating packaging materials and distribution packaging systems.

The Packaging Centre is equipped with advanced, high-tech testing equipment, which allows the evaluation of a wide range of properties important to technologists in the food and packaging industries. Strength evaluation, permeability measurement and distribution evaluations are a few examples of the types of tests, which can be conducted at the campus.

Material assessment

A wide range of tests can be conducted including tensile, leak, friction, seal integrity, thermo analysis and gas/vapour permeability.

Distribution assessment

The centre has the ability to assess the effect of distribution hazards such as compression, shock, drop and vibration hazards, on packaged products, using specialised equipment within a controlled environment. Sustainability projects using this equipment aim to select the minimum amount of packaging required to provide adequate protection to the food or beverage product.

Benchmarking

Often comparison studies are used to select cost effective packaging solutions. Benchmark assessments provide assurance when selecting new packaging materials and also support rationalisation projects, which aim to reduce the range of pack formats used by a single business.

Problem solving

To resolve problems associated with packaging failure the centre uses a combination of standard assessments combined with bespoke testing regimes. British Standards and ASTM methods are followed where appropriate but may need modification to replicate the scenarios encountered during commercial handling.