In the recent past, food packaging was used to enable marketing of products and to provide passive protection against environmental contaminations or influences that affect the shelf life of the products. However, unlike traditional packaging, which must be totally inert, active packaging is designed to interact with the contents and/or the surrounding environment. Active packaging systems are successfully used to increase the shelf life of processed foods and can be categorized into adsorbing and releasing systems (for example, oxygen scavengers, ethylene scavengers, liquid and moisture absorbers, flavor and odor absorbers or releasers, antimicrobials, etc.). Intelligent packaging is characterized by its ability to monitor the condition of packaged food or the environment by providing information about different factors during transportation and storage. Intelligent packaging includes time-temperature indicators, gas detectors, and freshness and/or ripening indicators. At the same time, advances in nanot...

Active and Intelligent Packaging for the Food Industry

Electrical transformer insulation systems are evaluated based on economic, safety, and environmental standpoints using total life cycle analysis. Because of the inherent high efficiency of liquid-cooled transformer designs, new developments focus on improving the environmental and safety properties of fire resistant (less-flammable, high fire point) fluids. This article reports the latest findings on dielectric systems using natural ester (vegetable oil) fluids. Because esters naturally have lower oxidation resistance than mineral oils, a novel blend of base oils and additives were developed to overcome this potential handicap. Single- and three-phase prototype field installations using these new dielectric coolants are discussed.

Vegetable-oil-based dielectric coolants

Oxygen-scavenging compositions comprising an oxidizable metal component, an electrolyte component and a solid, non-electrolytic, acidifying component. When blended with soft, flexible polymeric resins, these compositions exhibit good oxygen-scavenging performance with improved oxidation efficiency relative to compositions containing an oxidizable metal component, an electrolyte, and an acidifying component combined with a more rigid thermoplastic resins. Selection of a thermally stable non-electrolytic, acidifying component is important when melt compounding the compositions into polymeric resins and particularly for extrusion coating applications. The compositions can be used directly as an oxygen absorbent resin melt-fabricated into a wide variety of oxygen-scavenging packaging articles or as concentrates in combination with other thermoplastic resins.

Oxygen-scavenging compositions and articles

A container wall of stretched plastic material has high oxygen barrier properties by incorporating an activating metal into the plastic material. The plastic material is PET in admixture with a polyamide and the metal is either added to the mixture or contained in one or both of the polymers. The material is stretched and aged to produce the container wall with the high oxygen barrier properties. The metal is preferably a transition metal and can be derived from a salt, such as a halide or acetate.

Oxygen barrier properties of pet containers

A portable medication cartridge allows for both manual and automated dispensing of tablets or capsules of virtually all sizes through a radial dispensing apparatus. The cartridge may be sealed and encoded with medication and patient identification. A microprocessor controlled medication dispensing apparatus includes a cartridge magazine capable of holding a plurality of cartridges for the same or different patients. The portable medication dispensing apparatus and method detects patient identification data and activates a radial dispensing medication cartridge in response to verification of patient identification data. The radial dispensing medication cartridge may include, for example, a tablet tray having a plurality of tablet stalls with at least a partially open top and side. The tablet and tray accommodates different sizes and types of tablets or capsules. A temporary tablet retention band is removably attached to the table tray to keep the tablets tray from exiting the open side of the tablet tray until the tablet tray is suitably filled and later inserted into the dispensing medication cartridge. The medication is sequentially advanced and allowed to radially dispense through an open side of the tablet tray from the medication cartridge.

Automated portable medication radial dispensing apparatus and method

of the Disclosure Foodstuff freshness keeping agent comprising a particulate composition which contains a salt of manganese (II), iron (II), cobalt (II) or nickel (II), an alkali compound and a sulfite or a deliquescent substance, and optionally ascorbic acid or its salt, thereby to absorb oxygen in the interior of package of foodstuffs and/or generate therein carbon dioxide gas.

Kiyotaka Omote

Papers

Foodstuff freshness keeping agents

Frischhaltemittel fuer nahrungs- bzw. lebensmittel