Fear Factor Packaging
I’m getting really nervous with the daily security threats that abound in the news. People forget that packaging has an important role to play in helping keep our products safe for consumption. Remember the Tylenol packaging incident? Many packaging applications, such as the tamper evident seal and the shrink wrap band, were invented as a result of that incident. Frighteningly, a major concern should be our food supply. One bio-terrorism incident in our food supply could be a thousand times more deadly than 9/11.
Packaging is starting to get some media play on this topic. I just read an article that tied packaging to the bird flu. Really! Stay tuned next week for “How Packaging Causes Global Warming.” I am just kidding. But let’s get serious. There are some pretty important ways that packaging impacts our product security. In fact, I recently wrote about it in my 13 Packaging Trends for 06. The premise is that keeping products secure will be one of the most important influences on purchasing in the future.
Smart or intelligent packaging has an important role to play in protecting the public. New innovations are surfacing every day. As an example, I spoke about TTI’s (time-temperature indicators) at the recent Marketing to Women Conference. It is amazing how this product security enhancement impacts the purchasing decision of the female consumer.
Some other exciting things I have read recently about how packaging can protect us include . . .
A Canadian-based company’s Toxin Guard is a system of placing antibody-based tests on polymer packaging films to detect pathogens or other selected micro organisms. The insert sends a visual alert when it encounters targeted spoilage bacteria, or pathogens such as E-coli, Listeria and Salmonella.
A French company, CRYOLOG, has designed the TRACEO
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