In recent years, while the government has tightened the market access system for food and pharmaceutical plastic packaging, the packaging and printing industry has also actively raised its technological level and developed a variety of new packaging technologies that address food and drug safety issues. Aseptic packaging technology is one of them. one.
1. Aseptic soft plastic packaging technology concept
The technology is to pack foods and medicines that have been sterilized at high temperature for a short time or in a sterile environment into pre-sterilized soft packaging bags in order to achieve commercial aseptic requirements without preservatives or refrigeration. And achieve the expected shelf life. There are three sterilisation requirements for this technology: the sterility of the inner package, the sterility of the packaging material and the packaging environment (
Sterility). Aseptic packaging technology has many advantages: it can make the nutrient content of foods well preserved; soft plastic packaging materials and vacuum state can protect the product from the invasion of light, gas, odor and microbes, so that the food can be added without preservatives, and it can be Long-term storage at room temperature; Aseptic packaging space utilization, light weight, comply with the current social green, environmental protection trends.
2. The technical principle of sterile soft plastic packaging
Aseptic packaging includes the sterility of the packaging material, the sterility of the packaged product, the sterility of the packaging environment, and the complete sealing of the four elements after packaging. "Aseptic" indicates that the product does not contain any microorganism that affects the quality of the product. "Complete seal" indicates that the product is sealed to a soft plastic package with appropriate means to prevent the entry of microorganisms and gases into the package. Most of the soft plastic aseptic packaging sealing using heat sealing, ultrasonic sealing and other methods. Sterile soft plastic packaging technology includes: sterilization and sterilization of packaging materials, sterilizing treatment, sterilization of packaging contents of food, and sterilization of packaging environment. Treatment methods include chemical sterilization and physical sterilization; chemical sterilization uses strong oxidants such as peracetic acid, hydrogen peroxide and other sterilization, physical sterilization has ultraviolet, hot air, electromagnetic waves, Y-ray irradiation, thermoforming sterilization. Food companies should adopt scientific aseptic packaging technology based on the nature of packaging materials and internal packaging products.
3. Application of Soft Plastic Aseptic Packaging Technology in China
Soft plastic aseptic packaging technology was introduced in Europe in the 1940s. It began to be introduced into China in large areas in the late 1980s. Many foreign packaging companies have established factories in cooperation with domestic food companies. A large number of food plants and beverages that use foreign technologies and equipment have been introduced. Plants and dairy plants have risen from the ground, thereby promoting the development of aseptic packaging technology in China. However, China's packaging industry is congenitally deficient and its technical support system is incomplete. The core and key technologies in aseptic packaging are still subject to human beings, and there are technological imitations and product similarities. Domestic large-scale well-known dairy products and beverage companies still use the technologies and equipment provided by developed countries for various reasons. The liquid milk and beverage markets are still heavily packed in forms such as Tetra Pak. The so-called "domestic" aseptic packaging is mainly used for high-temperature cooking and packaging of cooked meat products, fruit juices and fruit juice beverages, milk and milk containing materials, tomato pulp and concentrated fruit juice and other packaging, and is often used in small and medium-sized food companies with a small market share. .
4. Soft plastic aseptic packaging technology development prospects
In the developed countries, soft plastic aseptic packaging accounts for more than 65% of the entire fluid packaging , and it grows at a rate of 5% to 10% every year; in developed countries, it consumes more than 100 Baoli Lebao per year, while China's per capita annual consumption is only More than 1 bag, far from reaching the world standard of 20 bags per capita. Therefore, aseptic packaging has great potential for development in our country. The following analysis from the dairy industry, beverage industry, vegetable juice processing industry and Chinese medicine preparation industry, in order to prospect the market prospects of soft plastic aseptic packaging technology in China.
Dairy industry: According to the forecast of related departments, by 2030, China's per capita possession of dairy products will reach 25 kg and the total output will reach 42.5 million tons. Dairy products should be changed from milk powder to liquid milk. One can save resources. Second, it can increase nutritional value and facilitate consumption. The use of soft plastic aseptic fresh-keeping packaging technology to solve the problem of the export of dairy products is the future development trend.