Earticle

Agar-based nanocomposite films were prepared by incorporation of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONP) and grapefruit seed extract (GSE). The composite films were characterized using FT-IR, UV-visible spectroscopy and thermalgravimetric analysis (TGA). The composite films showed light absorption peaks at 220 and 380 nm, characteristic for GSE and ZnONP, respectively. The UV-light transmittance of the agar film was markedly reduced from 54.4 ± 1.3% to 5.8 ± 2.5% with little sacrifice of transparency when 3 wt% ZnONP and 5 wt% GSE were added. The mechanical and water vapor barrier properties increased slightly though they were not significant statistically by the addition of ZnONP and GSE. The nanocomposite films showed stronger antibacterial activity against L. monocytogenes than E. coli O157: H7 and the antibacterial activity was affected by bacterial types as well as concentrations of ZnONP and GSE. The nanocomposite film incorporated with 3 wt% of ZnONP and 5 wt% of GSE exhibited strong antibacterial activity against Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157: H7. The results indicate that 3 wt% of ZnONP and 5 wt% of GSE are the optimal concentrations for producing functional agar/ZnONP/GSE composite films.

The degree of cosmetic’s oxidation depends on the storage conditions and external conditions when using the product. The microbial contamination and oxygen exposure often results in the quality deterioration of cosmetics. In addition, the problem is that consumers often use cream-type cosmetics, which have short expiration period (6-12 months), even after the product is expired. When using the deteriorated cosmetics, it can be fatal to consumers’ safety including some symptoms such as folliculitis, rashes, edema, and dermatitis. Therefore, it is necessary to develop sealed smart packaging for cosmetics to prevent the deterioration of cosmetics and improve consumer safety. In this study, we have developed smart packaging design for cosmetics that can measure the surrounding environment and expiration date for the cosmetics in the real time. In addition, the smart packaging includes sensor, which are linked to the mobile application. Users can find out the measurement results through the application. Also, the packaging design and functions were set up based on the survey results by the user and feasible model can be produced based on user choice. The measurement in the three environment has been done after manufactured the sensor, PCB, and mobile application. As a result, it works normally within a certain range under all three environmental conditions. It is believed that the information on expiration dates and storage environment can be efficiently delivered to the consumers through developed cosmetics smart packaging and applications. The development of UI/UX design for consumer is further studied. The UX/UI design of the application plays an essential role in achieving this goal through the commercialization the cosmetic products in the wide range.

Among the many packaging materials used in cushion packaging, there is a lack of optimum design for the tray cup pad used in fruit packaging for export and domestic distribution. It causes over-packaging due to excessive material input, and this could be solved by applying various parameters needed to optimize the design of the tray cup pad considering the packaging material and the quantity of fruits in the box. In the case of a tray cup for fruits, the economic efficiency of material and thickness should be considered. Therefore, it is possible to design a tray cup pad depending on the packaging material used by applying appropriate design parameters. The static and dynamic characteristics of the materials used for packaging of pears were analyzed by using the FEM (finite element Method) simulation technique to derive the optimal design parameters. And by applying the appropriate design parameters considering the quantity of fruit and distribution environment, it is possible to design an appropriate fruit tray cup pad. In this study, as a result of simulating the contact stresses between the fruit and the tray cup for the PP, PE, and PS materials used in the fruit tray cup, the material with the lowest contact stress was PP and the value was found to be 398 Pa. The contact displacement between fruit and tray cup using this material was about 0.0463 mm, which was the lowest value compared with other materials. Also the resonance frequency band of tray cup made of PP material was below 36.81 Hz, and the strain energy was below 12.20 J. The resonant frequency band of the pear is more than 80 Hz and it could be applied to all the tray cup materials as compared with the resonance band of 38.81 Hz or less which is the resonance band of all tray cup pads for packaging. Finally, PP is the most suitable material for the tray cup pad.

In the modified atmosphere packaging of powdered infant formula, the oxygen inside the package may cause its quality deterioration and needs to be minimized for quality preservation. A way of oxygen scavenger inclusion in the single-serve package without contacting the product was devised for removing oxygen residing initially and permeating through the seal layer during the storage. A polyethylene/pulp multi-layer porous filter bag of 5 × 7 cm containing 13 g of powdered infant formula was packaged in an 8 × 9 cm size aluminium laminated film package with a Fe-based oxygen scavenger of 1.8 g. After nitrogen flushed packaging, the active packages were stored at 30oC for 254 days with periodical quality measurement. The active package could remove the initial residual oxygen of 1.4% completely and maintain absence of oxygen for the whole storage, which contributed to reduced oxidation observed in lower product peroxide value compared to that of the product in the control package. There was no influence of packaging treatment on content of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, reaction product of initial nonenzymatic browning. The devised oxygen-scavenging singleserve package showed a potential to improve the preservation of infant formula powder and extend the shelf life.

The effect of packaging and storage methods in enhancing the shelf life and improving the postharvest quality of the Korean head cabbage (Brassica rapa) used for wrapping vegetables was studied at 10oC. The wrapping cabbage was packed using four types of packaging and storage materials: (A) Perforated PP film; (B) Non-perforated PP film; (C) PVC film for wrapping; and (D) non-packaged as control. The quality parameters, such as fresh appearance, weight loss, hue angle, moisture content, hardness, and SSC of wrapping cabbage were investigated. The weight loss of wrapping cabbage showed a significant difference between the one packaged with film and the non-packaged as control. The general appearance of Korean cabbage stored at 10oC was not significantly affected by the packaging treatments. However, Korean head cabbage packaged with perforated film tend to show a better external appearance compared with those exposed to the other packaging during three weeks of storage at 10oC. The inside appearance, hue angle, moisture content, hardness, and SSC, gradually decreased during the storage period. No remarkable change in the measured items were observed in Korean cabbage packaging methods. In this experiment, the Korean cabbage packaged inside a PP film with holes, and stored at 10oC temperature had the most desirable outcome of extending the head cabbage’s shelf life and appearance quality. Results suggest that perforated packaging treatment combined with low storage temperature could be an effective method in prolonging the shelf life of Korean cabbage for wrapping vegetable.

Thermal insulation performance of new insulation packaging made of recycled PET nonwoven (thickness : 10 mm) was verified by conducting comparative experiment with an EPS box (thickness : 25mm) and a double wall corrugated box (thickness : 7mm). Three ice packs (300 g) were positioned 200 mm above the bottom inside each box, all of which are placed side by side and temperature change of 2 points (5mm under middle icepack and 130 mm under middle icepack) was recorded by data logger (GL-840, Graphtec) for 16 hours under the environment of 29oC. The new packaging box showed 75% higher insulation performance than the EPS box and 180% higher than the corrugated box. In order to figure out the reason for insulation performance difference among boxes, thermal conductivities of each box material were measured using heat flow meter (HFM436 lamda, Netzsch). U-value (thermal conductivity divided by thickness) of EPS was lower than recycled pet nonwoven by 57%, which seemed to be opposite to the result of insulation test of boxes. This was explained by high water vapor transmission rate of EPS (6 times higher than PET insulation) and air pocket effect of PET insulation.

The general Impulse Sealer has a problem of sealing quality because continuously sealing process results in an undesirable temperature rise, which may accumulate the heat during the operation. In order to address such a drawback, the controlled sealing temperature method can be effectively utilized compared with the general controlled time method. As such, a temperature sensor with capability of detecting the sealing temperature was installed, and a separate PCB was manufactured to control the sealing temperature by measuring and calculating the detected temperature. The temperature changes during the temperature rise and maximum temperature after continuously operation were investigated using an Impulse Sealer system. Next, the results obtained from experiment were compared with each other. As such, the maximum temperature was 70.3oC, whereas 8.9oC was recorded as control temperature. It implies that this controlled temperature system prevented the undesirable temperature rise, thereby causing a consistent sealing quality.

Shock and vibration inputs are transmitted from the vehicle through the packaging to the fruit. Inside, these cause sustained bouncing of fruits against each other and container wall. These steady state vibration input may cause serous fruit injury, and this damage is particularly severe whenever the fruit inside the package is free to bounce, and is vibrated at its resonance frequency. The determination of the resonance frequencies of the fruit and vegetables may help the packaging designer to determine the proper packaging system providing adequate protection for the fruit, and to understand the complex interaction between the components of fruit when they relate to expected transportation vibration inputs. Instrumentation and technologies are described for determining the vibration response characteristics of the pears for exporting with frequency range from 10 to 200 Hz, sweep rate of 1 octave/min, sweep method of logarithmic up and down and acceleration levels of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 G considering the domestic transportation environment. The resonance frequency of the pears ranged from 49.04 to 87.16 Hz and the amplitude at resonance was between 0.96 and 4.02 G in test frequency band and acceleration level. The resonance frequency and amplitude at resonance frequency band of the pears decreased with the increase of the sample mass. The multiple nonlinear regression equations for predicting the resonance frequency of the pears were developed using the independent variables such as mass, input acceleration.

Carton clamps, one of forklift attachments, allow users to quickly handle shipping units such as unitized loads, large shipping cases, or crates without the requirement of pallets. As the use of palletless handling by clamp trucks increases, so does the need for simulation research on clamp truck handling. The frictional characteristics for various contact conditions of corrugated paperboards and their constituent boards were analyzed to obtain the data needed in the computer simulation for the handling of carton clamp truck. The overall mean of static-frictional coefficients between selected corrugated paperboards was 0.38 (±0.01), which was 1.3~1.6 times greater than 0.23~0.29 of the frictional coefficients between boards. The overall mean of static-frictional coefficients between the corrugated paperboards and the rubber contact pad was 0.82 (±0.02), which was about 1.1 to 2.8 times greater than 0.29~0.78 of the static-frictional coefficient between the linerboard and the rubber contact pad. The overall mean of kinetic-frictional coefficients between the corrugated paperboards was 0.35 (±0.01), and 0.76 (±0.02) between the corrugated paperboards and the rubber contact pad.