Opportunities for
Improving the Quality of
Packaged Consumer
Products with the Use of
Le Mac’s
Light Shield Sleeve
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BACKGROUND
In the consumer packaged goods industry, product
development and packaging professionals face the
continual challenge of developing optimal combinations
of product formulations and package designs capable
of delivering consistent value propositions to the
intended consumer segment.
Among the essential elements of any brand’s value
proposition are the basic product features of colour,
flavour or fragrance, and nutritional or functional value.
Delivery on the promise of a brand requires that the
consumer perceive these elements to be consistent,
regardless of the place or time of consumption.
Brand stewards recognise the value of ensuring that a
product retains its desired benefits not only throughout
its distribution and retail presentation but also during
the expected post-purchase storage period and until
the completion of consumption.
Addressing the shelf-life issue is particularly
challenging in today’s beverage industry, where many
players are pursuing growth through the development
of new products that create and cater to new
consumption occasions. The result is strong growth in
several categories including juices, energy drinks,
vitamin-enhanced functional beverages, teas, and dairy
beverages.
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LIGHT SENSITIVITY OF CRITICAL
PRODUCT INGREDIENTS
Certain products packed in clear and translucent
containers can be negatively affected by visible and
ultraviolet light radiation
Visible Light
• Light present in the visible spectrum, ROY-G-BIV.
• Classified as light with wavelength of 380 to 740 nm.
• Does not cause direct damage to beverages.
• Causes damage by affecting certain sensitizers present
in beverages.
Ultraviolet Light
• Higher energy, shorter wavelength than visible light.
• Classified as light with wavelength of 10 to 380 nm.
• Higher energy causes more damage than visible light.
• UV light present in sunlight causes sunburns.
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LIGHT SENSITIVITY OF CRITICAL
PRODUCT INGREDIENTS
Sources of Visible & Ultraviolet Light:
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Artificial Lighting
– Refrigerated cases
– Store shelves
•
Sunlight
– During transport and distribution
– Through shop windows
– Incidental exposure after purchase
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INGREDIENTS DAMAGED BY
VISIBLE & UV LIGHT
Many ingredients are independently unstable in the
presence of UV. Others, however, show stability to UV
in isolation but become unstable when formulated with
other ingredients.
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(1) UV Sensitivity of Colourant Ingredients
Colour is a prominent and defining attribute of most consumer
products. Consumers can readily observe slight inconsistencies in
product colour and may perceive them as indications of poor
quality.
In the US, 7 synthetic dyes are approved for general food use and
more than 30 are approved for general use in cosmetics.
Although many of these dyes independently exhibit favourable
stability to UV light, they have been shown to be unstable to light
when formulated with certain ingredients.
For example, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is frequently added to
beverages to scavenge dissolved oxygen that can attack certain
flavour components. However, the presence of ascorbic acid in
beverages containing certain synthetic colorants can result in
rapid fading upon exposure to UV light.
The presence of trace metals can also have a destabilizing effect
on the synthetic colorants.
The various natural colorants approved for general food use vary
widely in their stability to light. Turmeric, beet, elderberry, annatto,
and paprika extracts are most sensitive to light-induced
degradation.
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(2) UV Sensitivity of Flavour and Fragrance Ingredients
Consumers are demanding greater variety and fusion of flavour
elements in food and beverages.
Similarly, in personal care and household cleaning products,
fragrance ingredients can lead to a diminished sensory profile and
also to the formation of unpleasant off-notes detectable by taste
and smell at low concentrations. The most common example of
this is the lemon aroma complex which is widely used across a
range of products in beverages, food, and other consumer
products.
One of the significant contributors to lemon flavour, and also one
of the most photosensitive, is “citral”. Upon exposure to UV light,
citral degrades into several by products including “photocitral-A”
and “photocitral-B”. Citrus beverages are often packaged in green
bottles to protect against this but as tests conducted by Milliken
Chemical show the formation of photocitral-A occurs rapidly in
both clear and green PET bottles with the accompanying onset of
detectable off-flavour.
Milliken concluded protection against wavelengths up to at
least 390 nm is required to retain the integrity of the citrus
flavour package and this cannot be achieved with either green
or standard clear PET bottles.
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(3) UV Sensitivity of Vitamins and Nutrient Ingredients
In recent years consumer demand has been driving the
supplementary inclusion of many vitamins and nutrients in
beverage, food, and personal care products as a means of
delivering new and differentiated sets of benefits to
targeted consumer segments.
Vitamins and nutrients are generally sensitive to the effects
of temperature, oxygen, and light. Slight change in the
molecular structure of a nutrient can render it biologically
ineffective. The following vitamins are known to be
specifically vulnerable to degradation by UV light:
Vitamin A, B2 (riboflavin), B6, B12, and folic acid.
Light also accelerates the destructive interaction between
vitamins. As an example, the degradation of both folic acid
and vitamin C is accelerated by the combined presence of
riboflavin and light. This effect, for example, is the cause
of Vitamin C degradation in milk exposed to light.
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(4) Specific Effects of Light On Milk
When milk is exposed to light, the following are
consequences:
• Loss of vitamins
• If flavoured, changes to flavour profiles
• Protein oxidation (with resultant burnt flavour or burnt
feathers flavour)
• Lipid oxidation (with cardboard / metallic off flavour)
Riboflavin (Vit B2)
• Riboflavin is photosensitiser for protein and lipid oxidation
• When milk is exposed to light in the presence of Riboflavin,
off flavours develop.
• If milk is not exposed to light, no off flavours develop
• If Riboflavin is removed and the milk is exposed to light, no
off flavours develop.
Absorption Spectrum of Riboflavin
Where Riboflavin absorbs light and causes problems.
Options for protecting milk in non opaque containers.
An opaque barrier, effective across the UV and Visible spectra up
to 530 nm is necessary (this blocks all radiation which affects
riboflavin).
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To protect Vitamin C content, a barrier across the UV and visible
spectrum is required.
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THE LE MAC / FUJI SEAL SOLUTION
Fuji Seal has developed the Light Shield Sleeve to reduce the
negative effects of light radiation on packaged consumer
products.
The Light Shield material from Fuji Seal is an opaque PET
which:
• Can achieve top to toe bottle shielding on shapes
requiring up to 60% sleeve shrinkage.
• Being PET is recycle friendly.
• Being opaque hides settlement levels and scum marks.
• Being opaque is unaffected by the colour of the bottle
contents.
• Is a brilliant white for a vivid, visual impact and
accentuates the printed design resulting in improved
legibility especially for senior citizens.
• Has zero MD shrink resulting in a low shrink force during
the shrinking process which produces:
 No smiley faces
 A uniform shrink finish
 Makes the shrink process easy to control.
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The Performance of Light Shield Can Be Measured by the
Light Shield Factor (LSF). This defines the wavelength at
which 5% or less radiation is transmitted through the
sleeve.
The Light Shield Factor (LSF) can be varied through the
printing process:
Eg. LSF 380 – Light Shield Sleeve providing <5%
transmission @ 380nm
LSF 500 – Light Shield Sleeve + printing providing
<5% transmission @ 500nm
LSF 800 - Light Shield Sleeve + printing providing
<5% transmission @ 800nm
Light Transmission Curve
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From the Light Transmission graph above, the exceptional
performance of Light Shield can be clearly seen:
• Conventional transparent shrink sleeves transmit almost
20% of light radiation for wavelengths at 280nm and 90%
at 420nm or above. It has an approximate LSF of 270nm
ie <5% of light is transmitted @ 270nm.
• If this conventional film is reverse printed with 2 layers of
opaque white ink and one of silver the LSF rises to
approximately 380nm ie <5% of light is transmitted @
380nm. 30% is transmitted at 420mm increasing to
almost 50% @ 800nm.
• By contrast, Light Shield which also has a LSF of 380nm
(<5% being transmitted up to 380nm) transmits only 25%
of light @ 800nm.
• If Light Shield is printed on the reverse side, the
transmission percentage decreases depending on the
colours chosen. In the case of black ink, the LSF is
800nm, ie less than 5% is transmitted @ 800nm.
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THE EXPERIENCE IN JAPAN
Since Light Shield was launched in Japan in 2004, the
annual usage of Light Shield film has almost doubled to 150
tonnes.
Applications in the Japanese market include dairy
beverages, vitamin enriched functional beverages, fruit
juices, iced tea, Japanese sake, condiments and
cosmetics.
Some examples are as follows:
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THE EXPERIENCE IN NORTH AMERICA
In 2007 Light Shield was adopted by Nestle, USA on its range
of 300ml UHT flavoured milks filled in Mexico.
This is the first use of Light Shield outside Japan.
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Nestle’s requirement was many fold:
1. A maximum light transmission of 1% @ 800nm.
2. Extended shelf life to attain greater geographical
reach for product distribution.
3. Reduced transportation cost.
4. Reduced overall packaging cost.
5. Meet Walmart’s directive for reduced in store
packaging waste.
The American Fuji Seal Solution
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All these objectives were met:
1. An LSF of 800 nm with less than 1% light transmission
was achieved with the use of a print enhanced Light Shield
from American Fuji Seal.
2. This resulted in an extended product life (Data
confidential to Nestle).
3. Nestle changed to a UHT product which could be
distributed using non-refrigerated trucks resulting in
reduced transportation costs.
4. Because of the extremely high LSF achieved with
Light Shield, Nestle was able to change the
secondary packaging for distribution from a full
wrap-around carton to a half tray carton thereby
significantly reducing secondary packaging costs.
5. The move to a half tray carton resulted in significant
reduction of in-store waste at Walmart.
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VALUE IMPLICATIONS OF Light Shield SLEEVES
FOR BRAND OWNERS
Specifying Light Shield sleeved bottles for qualified
applications represents an opportunity for brand
owners to realise value in several ways:
• Light shield can contribute substantially to extending the
shelf life of UV and visible light sensitive formulations,
thereby increasing the likelihood of a consistent
consumer experience, which in turn drives brand
loyalty.
• From a financial and risk perspective, Light Shield provides
an element of protection for the extensive sums
invested in product development, promotion, and brand
development. The cost of utilising Light Shield translates
into a small percentage of the retail price of the
product.
• Light Shield can give the product developer increased
flexibility by relaxing constraints on the need to
accomplish a UV-stable product through formulation
alone.
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VALUE IMPLICATIONS OF Light Shield SLEEVES
FOR BRAND OWNERS
•Light Shield can contribute to new product innovation
allowing formulators to choose from among UVsensitive ingredients that previously were avoided.
• Using Light Shield may alleviate the need to use
stabilising compounds as direct additives to the
formulation.
•Light Shield reduces the need to “overshoot” loadings of
UV-sensitive ingredient
•Light Shield gives packaging designers increased
flexibility in packaging aesthetics by utilising all the
traditional benefits of shrink sleeve decoration.
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CONTACT DETAILS
The Le Mac Australia Group
Cnr Railway Road North & Hudson Place
MULGRAVE NSW 2756
Tel:
Fax:
02 4577 4799
02 4577 4379
Email: salesenquiry@lemacaustralia.com.au
Web: www.lemacaustralia.com.au
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