Clearing the mist on food packs
Croda Polymer Additives has launched a new anti-fog concentrate which is claimed to provide a unique solution to fogging in clear polypropylene food packaging.
Atmer™ 7373 works by preventing droplet formation on plastic surfaces, keeping food looking fresher for longer for both hot and cold fogging applications, says the company.
Adam Maltby, Croda’s polymer additives applications manager said, ”Atmer 7373 is effective in most grades of polypropylene, and results have been particularly good in PP homopolymer. As a highly loaded concentrate it is particularly useful for converters who can easily handle its pellet form. It is also useful for masterbatch producers who either cannot or do not wish to handle soft and pasty raw materials.”
The product’s formulation is said to overcome many of the processing difficulties encountered when using traditional additives at the levels needed to impart effective anti-fogging. Typical processing problems can include screw slip or over-lubrication in the extruder barrel, as well as excess fuming. Atmer 7373 is a 40% concentrate supplied in pellet form for easy dosing, so opens up new opportunities for film and sheet producers in particular. Additionally it helps to control the rate of migration and allows an even dispersion of the additive on the polymer surface. Scientifically formulated for clear polypropylene films and containers the additive is fully food approved. A short demonstration of the product’s performance in a hot fog test over two hours is available on the company’s website.
