PACKAGED FOOD

BRAND

BY
ABHILASH
ARUNKUMAR
CHANDAN
PAVANKUMAR
RAHUL
SARANYA.B

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1
We thank PROF.MANOHARAN for providing this
wonderful opportunity for carrying out this project. It was a
dedicated and a co-ordinate effort of the entire group and it
was really a good learning experience.

CONTENTS:

2
 PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION............................................................ 3
2. SECTOR INFORMATION
 PACKAGING FUNCTIONS AND
ITS IMPORTANCE....................................................... 4-5
 USEFUL FEATURES OF PACKAGING....................... 5-6
 PACKAGING SCENE IN INDIA.................................... 6-7

3. COMPANY BRAND INFORMATION

 BRAND INFORMATION OF MTR................................. 8-9
 SHARE INFORMATION.................................................. 9
 EXPANSION OF BUSINESS........................................... 9-12
 PRINCIPLE COMPETITOR............................................. 13-14

4. TOPIC RELATED INFORMATION

 TECHNOLOGY OF PACKING...................................... 15-16
 DIFFERENT TYPES OF
PACKAGING MATERIALS........................................... 16-18

5. CONCLUSION................................................................ 19

6. BIBLOGRAPHY.............................................................. 20

3
 INTRODUCTION

Today, packaging has been acknowledged as a strategic tool for enhancing competitiveness
of food products by experts. Packaging elements are highly important for food products
buyers and these elements can highly influence their purchasing decision.

Understanding the relative importance of product attributes influencing food choice at the point of
sale is mostly important to the success in today competitive food markets. For many years, conjoint
analysis has been used to estimate the importance of various products attributes for consumer’s
purchasing decisions (Green and Srinivasan, 1978, 1990; Enneking et al., 2007). Packaging
seems to be one of the most important factors in purchase decisions made at the point of sale
(Prendergast and Pitt, 1996). Packaging is also a key food product attribute perceived by
consumers. There is no escaping the fact that packaging performs marketing function, even if a
company does not explicitly recognize the marketing aspects of packaging. In addition, with the
move to self-service retail formats, packaging increases its key characteristic as the salesman on the
shelf at the point of sale. The critical importance of packaging design is growing in such competitive
market conditions, as package becomes a primary vehicle for communication and branding ( Rettie
and Brewer, 2000).

The previous studies showed that although the managerial focus toward packaging has
increased, a review of the marketing literature reveals few theoretical contributions in the
area of packaging and relatively few efforts in relation to its impact on the marketing function
such as consumer behaviour.

The package is a critical factor in the decision-making process because it communicates to

consumers. The package standing on the shelf, affects the consumer decision process and
package design must ensure that consumer response is favourable (Silayoi and Speece, 2004).
However, several conflicting trends in consumer decision making has made the food package
design challenging. Some consumers are paying more attention to label information, as they
become more concerned about health and nutrition issues.

4
 SECTOR INFORMATION

Product branding and packaging decisions are very important decisions as in the present age
of globalization and liberalisation, a large number of brands of various products are available
to the consumer to choose and select from. As all brands are not equally liked by a consumer
and he selects his brand after a careful analysis of a number of factors associated not only
with the product but also the manufacturer, the brand name, the packaging, the price, the
contents and also the various other factors.

The marketers of all the competitive brands of a product try to reach to the consumers by the
means of marketing communications and appeal them to buy their brand. For making the
consumers to take favourable decisions for their products, the marketers need to build strong
brands and nourish them overtime so that its market strength is not deteriorated on account of
introduction of equally competitive brands by their existing competitors or by the entry of an
altogether a new brand with attractive product features including appealing packaging. The
marketers therefore need to continuously undertake research and developmental activities to
keep intact the brand image.

Packaging is an integral component of a product and it plays an important role in its

saleability. Packaging is no longer a mere outer covering of a product for its protection; it is
very much a contributing factor for its increasing marketability. A vividly beautiful
packaging of a product, to some extent, develops a positive image about it in the minds of the
consumers. Thus packaging is not merely used as a means of product’s protection during
transportation and storage but it is also used as a marketing and promotional tool.

Earlier the role of packaging was merely to protect the product from sun and dust and also
from damages during handling. With advancement of the nations, new legislations have been
incorporated for the merchandising of the goods. This has resulted into the importance as
well as the necessity for an appropriate quality and type of packaging.

Today marketing is a game of names. Brand sells the most in the market place. The present
era of cut throat competition has enabled the consumer to select the brand of product to be
consumed from amongst a vast number of competing brands. This availability of brand
choice has resulted into a fast eroding of the consumer’s loyalty for a particular brand.
Consumers are not resorting to more of impulse buying and are eager to try new brands.
Hence the companies today not just take research and development activities for improving
the product quality but also try to add value to their products means of via innovative
packaging.

Packaging Functions:

These days packaging is designed to take care of the convenience for its use and also to
differentiate a brand from the others. In case of many products reusable packaging is also
used to attract consumers for its purchase.

Packaging is a function of both physical distribution as well as advertising. It is essential that

latest techniques and materials of packaging be used. Many institutes, including the Indian

5
Institute of Packaging render useful advice to the marketers on the nature of packaging
designs and the materials to be used which would be suitable for a particular product.

Importance of Packaging:

Depending on the products and the industry, the packaging can have different levels of
importance. Sometimes packaging becomes the most important way of delivering the good,
and its cost represents the largest part of the total cost of the product.

According to Prefetti, “Packaging becomes the most important way of delivering the goods,
and its cost represents the largest part of the total cost of the product”. Packaging serves a
number of utilities which the marketer’s want to communicate to the consumer to attract him
to purchase his brand. Through packaging the important information about the product, price,
manufacturer and the consumption precautions etc. can be conveyed to the buyer.

Product packaging decisions are very important and the marketers need to be very careful
about it, as packaging is sometimes the key factor of success or failure of a new launch.

According to Chunnawalla, “Packaging, as a function, has two separate dimensions – the

science and technology and the behavioural aspect related to the art of product design which
enhances the value of the contents and passes on the impression to the consumer directly or
subtly.

Overall it can be concluded that packaging is an integral and an important component of the
product. It not only helps in protecting the product from being damaged during its handling
but also protects it as an attractive packaging works as a silent salesman.

Useful Features of Packaging:

Packaging deals with the nature of the container/wrapper, its size, shape, colour and the
message printed on it. It represents the talents of the various specialists viz. researcher,
designer, engineer, marketer and others.

The packaging of a product may also attract the attention of the consumers at the very first
sight if its features appear to be attractive. The marketers need to take care of these marketing
aspects also.

The usual features of packaging are the following:

a) The container should be strong so that it can stand the strain of transportation and handling.
It should be strong also to ensure a long shelf-life.
b) While being strong, it should avoid being too heavy so that it remains easy
to handle and inexpensive on freight.

Over and above the usual features, the packaging should also have certain features from the
marketing angle, as a well-designed packaging is often described as the silent sales
representative.

6
These marketing features of packaging are as follows:

a) It must advertise the brand and the manufacturer.

b) It must be distinctive and capable of ‘differentiating’ the product.
c) It must be suitable for display.
d) It must be helpful in identifying the product.
e) It must carry the brand name, brand / trade mark and all the other
required information.
f) It must be attractive.
g) It must be so designed as to add convenience for carrying and handling
the product.
h) It should require the minimum shelf space.
i) The colours and the material used for outer packaging must not create
any socially or psychologically bad image about the product.
j) Packaging must be capable of keeping intact the hygiene of the product
for its shelf life.

However, due care must be taken as an over-enthusiastic approach may lead to cost over-runs
as packaging has a direct bearing on the product cost. Therefore, the cost aspect of packaging
should be strictly controlled so that the product may not be overpriced.

Packaging Scene in India:

The Indian market has been rapidly changing during the last ten years or so due to the entry
of some worldwide players who have upgraded the market standards.

There is emerging a strong change in the packaging scene in India and rather there is a
packaging revolution. The total packaging volumes for consumer packaging in India reached
a total of 39,906 million units by 2002. The packaging industry in India in growing and the
market is dominated by flexible packaging formats. There is a great level of change in the
product packaging particularly in the material used for it.

More and more Indians are now becoming health conscious and a majority of the products
here are now available in hygiene packaging. Even the common man is now becoming
conscious about the quality of water, the standard of cooking oil and calorie intake etc. This
has resulted in a significant shift away from loose unbranded low quality cooking oil to the
branded oil packaged in PET and HDPE bottles. Further healthier living has also resulted in a
growing demand for PET bottles in the potable water sector.

More and more consumers in India now are also realizing the need for nutritive drinks, thus
showing a preference for juice drinks, 100% juices, milk drinks etc. which is further pushing
up demand for liquid cartons.

Packaging revolution in India has resulted in the supply and hence the consumption of a wide
variety of consumer products. Marketers have introduced various packaged sizes of their
products suitable to different pockets and needs besides tetra pack packaging for food
products etc. have helped in increasing their shelf life. The market size for various products
has registered a significant growth rate just because of the this packaging revolution.

7
The long run survival for many of the brands has been possible only due to their adapting to
the new and innovative packaging materials for their products.

8
 COMPANY BRAND INFORMATION

BRAND INFORMATION OF MTR

MTR Foods Private Limited is amongst the top five processed food manufacturers in India.
They manufacture, market and export a wide range of packaged foods to global markets that
include USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, UAE, Japan and Oman.
MTR Foods Ltd. began as a single restaurant in Bangalore called Mavalli Tiffin Rooms.
Tiffin is a word traced to colonial rule in India and refers to a light meal or lunch.Mavalli
Tiffin Rooms opened in 1924 and was run by members of the Maiya family.

Starting with the legendary MTR restaurant in Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, we now
offer ''complete meal solutions'.

Their deep understanding of culinary expectations and needs has resulted in many new
and innovative products. Their investments in infrastructure and technology ensure that
they can scale rapidly and bring these to market. Today, consumers across the globe count on
us to bring them all-natural, wholesome and delicious food that is also convenient and no-
fuss.

At MTR, we are proud of our rich heritage. Their tradition of food and hospitality began in
1924 with the establishment of the MTR by the Maiya family in Bangalore. This
restaurant is a city landmark today and people still stand in queue to savour its unique,
completely authentic dishes. Then in 1975 Maiyas diversified in to business of convenience
foods and instant mixes. As business expanded modernization and state of art facilities
including dedicated Lab and printing and packaging facilities were added.

9
MTR’s wide range of products include ready to eat curries and rice, ready to eat cook gravies,
frozen food, ice cream, instant mixes, spices and variety of pickles and papads, milk beverage
drinks. MTR has its foot prints across the globe. In order to fuel further growth, MTR
became part of Norwegian Company M/s Orkla in 2007.

SHARE INFORMATION:
J.P. Morgan Partners owns a 28-percent share of MTR Foods. Another 14 percent of the
company is owned by Magnus Capital Corporation, a venture capital group based in
Mauritius. Chairman and company director Sadananda Maiya owns the remainder.

REASONS FOR SHUTTING DOWN THE RESTAURANT AND EXPANDING

GROCERRY:
Change was forced on the restaurant in 1975 during the State of Emergency declared by
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Gandhi's rules for the emergency required every restaurant to
conform to prices set by the government. The Maiya family felt unable to abide by the
government price list. The prices were so low that the restaurant would have had to cut the
quality of the food it offered. MTR had made its reputation on hygiene and cleanliness, and
the owners felt that compromising the quality of the food they offered would have been
disastrous. Rather than following that course, the family shut the restaurant. Its workers,
many of whom had been with the restaurant for years, were suddenly unemployed. The
Maiya family accommodated a few of them by offering them places in a small grocery store
attached to the restaurant. At this point, Sadananda Maiya got the idea to expand the grocery
by offering a bigger line of products under the MTR brand name.

EXPANSION OF BUSINESS:

Through the early 1980s, MTR distributed exclusively in Bangalore, selling at various
department stores and major groceries. In 1983, MTR decided to press into other southern
cities. It sent distributors to Madras, Hyderabad, and Vijayawada to introduce its products.
The next year, the company made a major technical innovation. It began packaging its foods
in what was called a polyester poly standby pack, the first of its kind in India. This was a

10
high-quality plastic bag with a pyramidal base which enabled it to stand upright. The upright
bags greatly increased the brand's visibility on store shelves.

Through the next ten years, MTR Foods worked on bolstering its reputation in southern India.
It faced a slew of small competitors in a highly fragmented market. The only big food
companies operating across India were Hindustan Lever Ltd., a subsidiary of Unilever, and
the Swiss food giant Nestlé. The company consolidated its position in southern India and
expanded its manufacturing facilities in and around Bangalore. MTR claimed to have leading
market share in several product categories. Overall, however, the Indian packaged food
market was still small. MTR was in a sense a pioneer, offering ready-to-eat food when such
products were still a novelty and not entirely a necessity. In India, most food was cooked
from scratch at home, and women had not yet started entering the workforce in significant
numbers. MTR worked its way into being a respectably sized regional player in the 1980s,
while the whole packaged foods market in India was valued at only around $30 million.

MTR began a push to become a more prominent company in the early 1990s. Beginning in
1993, the company increased the number of products it offered and actively sought out new
markets. It pushed into more cities in southern India, where it eventually gained leading
market share in every region that enjoyed a predominantly vegetarian cuisine. Market
opportunities also increased in Bangalore, which had become the so-called Silicon Valley of
India, the centre of the country's booming information technology industry. MTR began
providing lunches to workers at several prominent technology firms. By the end of the 1990s,
Sadananda Maiya estimated that about 80 percent of Bangalore's high-tech workers were
MTR consumers. Overall, the convenience food market in India was growing. As income
levels rose and more women were holding jobs outside the home, packaged food boomed.
The category was expected to triple in sales by the early years of the new century. MTR
changed its structure in 1994 in order to accommodate future growth. The firm was broken
into two divisions, one for its main food lines, spices, and vermicelli, and another to
specialize in chips and other snacks. MTR also launched an export division. Sales at MTR
grew as much as 40 percent annually in the late 1990s, and MTR planned to spread into more
markets. Successful in southern India, MTR began penetrating into northern markets by
1998.

MTR launched a new product in 1998 in order to gain a nationwide following. This was its
Softy ice cream cone. The ice cream market had long been dominated by big food companies,
11
most prominently Hindustan Lever. MTR's new cone was an immediate hit. The company
was able to price its ice cream competitively against Hindustan Lever and still maintain a
high profit margin. In some cases, MTR was able to retail its frozen treats for half what
Hindustan Lever charged. The company quickly expanded its ice cream portfolio, bringing
out several sizes of packaged hard ice cream, some of which it sold to five-star hotels. MTR's
reputation for purity evidently helped it pick up new customers.

The company also expanded its line of snack foods such as chips and fries. In addition, it
brought out a new line of ready-to-eat meals based on North Indian recipes and entered an
arrangement with another company to help with distribution in northern India. MTR also
continued to upgrade its packaging technology. The company used a method that had been
developed by India's defence department and eventually began supplying ready-to-eat food to
the Indian Army. Its new packaging was called the retort pouch. The retort pouch was first
developed in the 1970s and kept food safe with no refrigeration. The consumer simply
dropped the unopened pouch in boiling water for a few minutes to heat the food. MTR's
packaged meals were thus extremely easy to prepare and left virtually no cooking mess. The
company brought 11 new prepared meals in retort pouches into the northern Indian market
and debuted a smaller line of southern cuisine in the new packaging.

By the late 1990s, MTR also had plans to bring out a line of frozen food. The company
proceeded slowly, because a distribution network for frozen food did not exist nationwide.
Nonetheless, the company was thinking ahead, hoping to score big in the export market with
frozen meals. By that time, the company was exporting some of its products to Australia,
Singapore, and other Asian and Pacific countries. MTR saw great potential in exports and
worked assiduously both to become a truly national presence in India and then a leading
brand abroad. In 2002, the company received ISO 9002 certification, meaning it met globally
recognized standards for food safety and hygiene. It also qualified under a similar global food
safety program, the Hazard Analysis Critical Central Point. With these certifications, MTR
had surmounted major barriers to export. It was able to get its foods into the United States
through an arrangement with the grocery chain Kroger and began exporting cooking sauces
to England. The company contemplated European markets as well, with a possible first
venture in France.

MTR Foods had made great strides since 1983, when it set it sights beyond Bangalore to
become a major regional company. By 2001, the company still did 90 percent of its domestic
12
business in its stronghold in southern India, yet the company fully expected to have half its
sales earned in northern India within just a few more years. It had distribution in some 500
Indian towns and cities in that year and planned to reach over 800 locales by 2002. The
company was also beginning to set foot in a global market that promised even greater sales.
At the beginning of the 2000s, MTR took steps to ready itself for further growth. In 2000, the
company raised cash by selling a 20 percent stake in itself to an investment group in
Mauritius, Magnus Capital. Magnus was primarily run by Indian immigrants in Singapore.
Chairman Maiya hired a new chief executive for MTR in 2001, bagging the former head of
the beverage division of Hindustan Lever, Jayaraman Suresh. In 2002, Magnus Capital
reduced its stake in MTR to 14 percent, and J.P. Morgan Partners, a division of J.P. Morgan
Chase, paid $4 million for a 28 percent stake in the firm. This new infusion of cash was to
fund MTR's most ambitious plan yet--to open a string of fast-food vegetarian restaurants. The
company opened its first MTR Super Shop in Bangalore in 2002, with ten more planned for
other Indian cities. The Super Shop was a combination restaurant/store that featured MTR
brand ready-to-eat meals customers could buy and take home and a restaurant area where hot
food was served. According to a profile in Business Line (March 22, 2001), the Super Shops
were to be a “vegetarian replica of McDonald's." The company seemed to be completing a
circle, from a modest restaurant to a packaged food manufacturer to a chain of franchised
quick eating joints.

Revenue at MTR rose rapidly as its expansion rolled onwards. Sales stood at just under $9
million in fiscal 2001 and were expected to hit $26 million in fiscal 2002. Maiya and new
CEO Suresh expected revenue to grow even more, passing $100 million by the middle of the
decade if things went as planned. Exports were to account for 20 percent of revenue. This
lavish growth did not seem unrealistic. The company had come far already and was now on
the brink of even greater market penetration both inside India and abroad. MTR contemplated
a public stock offering in 2003.

13
Principal Divisions:

MTR Foods Ltd; MTR Enterprises; MTR International; Sudarshan Enterprises.

Principal Competitors:

Hindustan Lever Ltd; Tasty Bite Eatables Ltd; Nestlé S.A.

14
Plans to double turnover to Rs. 500 crore by 2012:

MTR Foods announced on Tuesday that the brand, which was acquired by the Norwegian
conglomerate Orkla in 2007, plans to double its turnover to Rs. 500 crore by 2012. Paul
Jordahl, Chairman and CEO, Orkla Brands International, said, “We aim to treble profits in
that timeframe.”

The company also announced a prelaunch of its packaged food brand, reflecting “the brand's
new look but which remains at its core authentically Indian,” Mr. Jordahl said.

Okla., which had revenues of over $9 billion in 2009, plans to make the MTR brand achieve a
compounded annual growth rate of 20 per cent in the next few years. Mr. Jordahl said Orkla
was open to fresh acquisitions “if they are interesting.” Depending on the nature of the
planned acquisitions Okla would decide whether fresh acquisitions would be within the
MTR umbrella or outside it.

Sanjay Sharma, CEO, MTR Foods, said MTR's margins have been adversely affected by the
sharp increase in the price of raw materials in the last couple of years. Raw material prices,
he said, had increased by an average of 9 per cent in 2009 and by about 7 per cent in 2008.
“We were affected by the sudden acceleration in prices,” he said. “Our profitability has been
under pressure, as a result,' he added. The company has a “pricing and efficiency programmer
to deal with this,” Mr. Sharma said.

Mr. Sharma said the company had decided to convert MTR from a regional to a national
brand. In order to provide “better focus”, it has decided to restrict the brand's presence to 150
towns and cities in the Northern, Western and Eastern regions from 500 towns at present. The
company has also decided to double its media spend in the current year.

PRODUCT DETAILS:

Our wide range of products include ready-to-eat curries and rice, ready-to-cook gravies,
frozen foods, ice cream, instant snack and dessert mixes, spices and a variety of
accompaniments like pickles and papads.

15
 TOPIC RELATED INFORMATION

MTR:

MTR use the latest technology to preserve the quality and freshness of the food. The use of
technology is from the Defence Food Research Laboratory. The company made a major
technical innovation. It began packaging its foods in what was called a polyester poly standby
pack, the first of its kind in India. This was a high-quality plastic bag with a pyramidal base
which enabled it to stand upright. The upright bags greatly increased the brand's visibility on
store shelves. The Ready to Eat products of MTR has won them the President's award.

INTRODUCTION TO DFRL:

The Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore, was established on 28thDecember
1961 under Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to fulfil the needs of
varied foods of Indian Army, Navy, Air force and paramilitary forces. Their aim is to design
and engineer light weight convenient packed food with longer shelf-life under varying
climatic conditions.

Using the self-developed technologies, DRFL has produced many ready-to-eat, quick
cooking and instant foods with longer shelf-life. Some of them are, long keeping chapatti’s
(shelf-life 6 months), high protein snacks (shelf-life 9 months), spiced potato parothas (6
months), fruit bars (9 months), mutton pickle (6 months), stabilized chikki (1year), Fruit juice
powder (mango, pineapple, mosumbi - 1 year), chicken pulav (1 year), precooked dehydrated
(PD) dal/curries, PD rice, PD potato peas curry (each 1year); instant pulav mix, instant
curries, dal, instant kheer mix, instant khichadi mix, instant basmati rice, instant upama mix
(each 1 year), instant carrot halwa mix (9 months). Few of the technologies for Food
products/processing and Packaging developed by DFRL are introduced below.

TECHNOLOGY OF PACKAGING: (ADOPTED BY MTR FOOD PRODUCTS)

Instantiation of Cereals and Pulses:

DFRL developed Freeze-Thaw dehydration technology in which cooked and dehydrated

pulses, whole legumes and cereals are made. These products are instantly reconstitutable in
less than 8 minutes by mere mixing in hot water. In this technology, before dehydration of the
cooked cereals or pulses, a cold shock is given to it. Instant cooking pulses like Bengal gram,
red gram, lentils and whole legumes (whole green gram, whole kabulichanna and rajma) are
developed by this technology. Their shelf-life is 12 to 18 months.

16
Self-heating Technology:

DFRL has recently developed self-heating ready-to-eat food packets. It has three
compartments - one of food and other two of a special liquid and a chemical powder. By
connecting the liquid and the chemical powder compartments, heat is generated due to
chemical reaction. This heat is transferred to the compartment of food and makes it ready to
eat in few minutes.

Packaging of Dehydrated food:

Beyond certain level, residual moisture content in the food causes its damage. So food is
dehydrated by using different technologies like hot air drying, foam-mat drying, freeze
drying etc. As the technology differs, the packaging requirement differs. Temperature,
moisture and oxygen affect the shelf-life of the dehydrated food. High moisture affect
crispness of the food, oxygen causes oxidation thereby affecting rancidity and odour, light
causes darkness and enhances oxidation, aroma causes odour picking from packing material
and fragile structure of the food causes its mechanical damage. The packaging for such food
should have high tensile strength, resistance to shock and vibration, light weight and low
price, chemical inertness. It should be pilfer-proof against substitution and adulteration. It
should be clean and hygienic. As oxygen and moisture accelerates chemical decomposition of
dehydrated food products, proper dehydration technique as well as packing material should
be used.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PACKAGING MATERIALS ARE :

(1) Rigid containers like metal cans and plastic containers, which are air-tight and light proof
and check the entry of moisture and oxygen. They are easy to handle during transportation.

(2) Semi-rigid packs, like line carton and bag-in-box, maintains the freshness of the food
product till it is opened. An ideal laminate is made up of layers of paper/low density
polythelene (LDPE)/Al-foil/ which ensures the shelf life required.

(3) Flexible pouches can be handled and opened easily. They keep the food inside fresh and
hygienic. It is moisture-proof and barrier for oxygen and light.

Packaging of Hot AIR Dried products:

The food products like dried vegetables, cereals and some ready mixes have very low
moisture content. So they don't need high barrier packaging materials. A single structure
polypropylene (PP) of thickness more than 75 microns, laminate of metallised polyester
(PET) of thickness more than 12 microns and a heat sealable layer of low density
polyethylene (LDPE) of thickness 75 microns are suitable for a shelf-life of at least 6 months.
Triple layer laminate of paper/12 micron aluminium foil/ LDPE offers better quality, but its
cost is higher.

17
Packaging of Freeze Dried Products and Vacuum / Inert Gas Packaging:

The food products like pre-cooked mutton chunks have fragile structure with very low
moisture content. Moreover they are prone to lipid oxidation causing off-flavour and
rancidity. So it should be protected against moisture absorption, oxygen and mechanical
damage. As with the decrease in foil thickness, the number of pin-holes increases, the Al foil
of thickness more than 30 microns is suitable for lamination of these foods. In case of inert
gas packaging, multi-layer plastic film materials having better barrier against diffusion of
inert gas are needed. Nitrogen or carbon-dioxide is used to flush the inside of packing
material to control the internal atmosphere. Polyester with low density polyethylene
(PET/LDPE) is used to retain the inert gas inside the package. This maintains the quality of
the food throughout its shelf-life. Aluminium foil laminates or tinplate containers are also
used for high fat content foods like milk powder and egg powder.

Packaging of Retort (thermal) processed food:

Retort processing is the most acceptable form of food preservation. These are ready to eat
food products. It requires just warming in a microwave oven or water bath before eating.
Packaging of this food should withstand thermal processing. Retort pouch is the flexible
laminated food package having light weight. It maintains the shelf-life, texture and nutritive
value of frozen food. During war, soldiers can easily carry these packages. So they are very
popular. The selection of packing material of retort pouches is very important. It should have
high melting point, physical strength, protect against light degradation, moisture changes,
microbial invasion and oxygen ingress. It should resist penetration of fats, oils and other food
components. Packing material should not contaminate the food inside. Japan and European
countries use multilayer polyester with 7-20 microns thickness aluminium foil and 75
microns thickness polypropylene for retort pouches. But they are very expensive for our
country.

DFRL by its research tried polypropylene (PP) and co-extruded material of polypropylene-
nylon-polypropylene (PP-Nylon-PP). This packaging structure is now successfully used in
the packaging of meat, vegetable curries, rice with meat and vegetables, sweet halwa, beans
in sauce, etc.

Packaging of Cereals, Grains, Pulses/Milled Products:

The food products like rice, pulses, atta and maida etc. may contain high moisture. They are
prone to attack by insects and fungus. To avoid this, they are packed in jute bags or high
density polythylene (HDPE) woven sacks.

Packaging of Shelf-stable High Moisture Products:

Besides fresh fruits, the shelf-stable high moisture products like mango bar, intermediate
moisture fruits and fruits processed by hurdle technology are also supplied to the defence.
Oxygen contact enhances enzymatic browning in the high moisture products. So the
packaging material should be an excellent barrier to oxygen. The hurdle technology
preserved fruits are pasteurized in polypropylene films and covered in aluminium foil

18
lamination. This protects the product against oxygen. Metallised polyester film with high
density-low density polyethylene (PET/HD-LDPE) as inner sealant layer is also useful here.
Flexible packaging materials like low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density
polyethylene when impregnated with potassium permanganate and cinnamic acid
respectively, become ethylene scavengers. Fresh fruit and vegetables like mango, tomato,
banana and papaya get more shelf-life of two-three weeks with such packaging. The additions
of ethylene scavengers improve the strength of the packaging material. The technology is
perfected in the laboratory and the large scale production of this packaging material is now in
progress.

Packaging of Fats, Oils and Fatty Food:

Free flowing oil may contaminate sealing surface and so sealing surface is kept free from
traces of oil or it should be coated with an ionomer for proper sealing. For packing of fats and
fatty foods, packaging material should have proper seal strength and barrier against oxygen.
For Dried products having very high fat content, packing material which is a good oxygen
barrier (like PVDC or nylon) is required. Multilayer materials like cellophane/low density
LDPE with PVDC/LDPE/Nylon/EAA (Ethylene acrylic acid copolymer) are also proved to
be good.

Packaging of few Other Products:

Peanut Candy is the product rich in proteins and carbohydrates and also provides energy. But
it absorbs moisture readily and is attacked by insects. It is also susceptible to rancidity. To
overcome these problems, it is packed in paper/12 micron aluminium foil/low density
polyethylene. Shelf-life of this packaged product is 6 months. Bread has very short shelf-life
as mould attacks it. Its shelf-life is increased to 20 days by packing it in a fungi static
wrapper. Grease proof paper is coated with an emulsion containing Sorbic Acid (SA) and
Carboxy Methyl Cellulose (CMC). This emulsion provides proper sorbic acid level. Hot
bread removed from oven is immediately wrapped with this emulsion. Sorbic acid is volatile
and due to heat in the bread, it is dispersed uniformly in the bread. DFRL has also developed
a biodegradable package material for the packaged food as its products were often used in
high altitude areas like Himalayas and the packing material may cause environmental
pollution.

19
 CONCLUSION

 Overall it can be concluded that product packaging represents the talents of the
various specialists’ viz. research, designer, engineer and others.

 Packaging companies today not just take research and development activities for
improving the product quality but also try to add value to their products means of via
innovative packaging.

 Protect against all adverse external influences that can alter the properties of the
product.

 Protect against biological contamination.

 Protect against physical damage.

 Carry the correct information and identification of the product.

 Tamper evident

BIBLIOGRAPHY
20
 www.Google.com
 www.mtrfoods.com
 Green and Srinivasan, 1978, 1990
 Rettie and Brewer, 2000
 Enneking et al., 2007
 Silayoi and Speece, 2004

21