Packaging Resonates at IFT18

Among the topics that resonated with IFT18 attendees are sustainable packaging, packaging to facilitate e-commerce, the future of food packaging, and technology that extends the shelf life of food. Symposia, exhibits, and posters provided a vision for the continuing role of packaging in protecting food.

Symposia
The Food Packaging Division sponsored three food packaging symposia at IFT18: “Advances and Challenges in the Design, Development, and Implementation/Commercialization of Novel Food Processing and Packaging Technologies,” which featured insights on packaging proteins such as tofu; “How E-Commerce Is Changing the Food Packaging Landscape,” which explored the consumer packaging designed for e-commerce; and “The Future of Food Packaging,” during which speakers discussed the future of food packaging, including commerce, design, and active and intelligent packaging.

On the Exhibit Floor
Packaging exhibitors at IFT18 included Barrington Packaging Systems Group, Clariant, Dixie Canner Co., International Paper, SkyPac Solutions, and TranPak. Among the IFT18 exhibitors that offer package testing were Campden BRI, EMSL Analytical Inc., GEA Group, and Mérieux NutriSciences.

Poster Competition
Caroline Christandi Loe won first place in the Food Packaging Division poster competition for her poster presentation, titled “Cranberry Pomace Extract Incorporated Edible Films as an Edible Separation Sheet for Fruit Leather.” Loe is an undergraduate at Oregon State University (OSU) and conducts research in the laboratory of professor and extension specialist Yanyun Zhao. She is also a summer research intern at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) in Shanghai, China, as part of the SJTU-OSU Innovation Center for Environmental Sustainability and Food Control. Loe said that her idea “came from [her] interest in the project’s potential to reduce food waste in a valued-added product.” Morgan Meiser of Purdue University won second place in the poster competition, and Juhi Patel of Washington State University won third place.

Food Packaging Division News
The recipient of the 2018 Riester-Davis-Brody Award is Jung H. Han, vice president of research and development, Pulmuone Foods USA. Han is an applied food packaging specialist who began his packaging career by working with antimicrobial packaging and edible coatings. He has authored and edited various food packaging books and is an associate editor of the Journal of Food Science. There are two areas of food packaging at the forefront of Han’s attention right now: “First is an integrated technical critical decision-making tree to predict the best package for individual food products for the early stages of the new product development process. The second area is a more economical system for bringing package[d] food to the pilot-plant stage. This involves economical package prototypes and multipurpose pilot-scale packaging equipment as well as integrity predicting modeling/simulation,” he says. Han’s philosophy for lifelong learning is as follows: “Regardless of your degree, it is very important for your career development in food packaging to retain intellectual interest in various sciences, technologies, and even humanity and social sciences.” Han credits Aaron Brody, John Krochta, Gordon Robertson, and Michael Rooney—all of whom are previous Riester-Davis-Brody Award winners—for offering great encouragement in his career.

The 2018–2019 officers of the Food Packaging Division are as follows: Shyam Sablani, associate professor of food engineering, Washington State University is the chair. The chair-elect is Maxine Roman, senior scientist, Breakthrough Innovation, Kraft-Heinz. Reza Tahergorabi, an assistant professor of food and nutritional sciences at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, is the secretary, and Ziynet Boz, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida and research associate at Packaging Technology and Research, is the editor of the division’s newsletter and media.

Claire Koelsch Sand, PhD, is a contributing editor to Food Technology magazine ([email protected]).