We all know even the very best confections don’t stay fresh
forever, but did you know your choice of packaging could either be helping or
hindering your fight for freshness? While packaging is often selected for
visual appeal, it can impact the shelf life of your products.
Understanding how packaging affects shelf life
can help you better serve your customers and your bottom line. As the final
post of this series, we’ll continue to share insight from RCI member Randy
Hofberger of R&D Consultants on how to prolong the shelf life of your
confections with the right packaging. Missed the first two
posts? Read Part
1, followed by Part
2.
This week we’re exploring the effects of moisture on confections and what to look for when sourcing barrier packaging that can keep crunchy products crisp and soft items from becoming dry—plus, tips for avoided unwanted moisture when shipping products.
Managing Moisture
Like with light and oxygen, moisture can wreak havoc on confections. No consumer wants soggy brittles and toffee or dry truffles and creams. Even worse, the presence of excessive moisture can create a breeding ground for bacteria and mold.
A good moisture-barrier film can play
double-duty by retaining existing moisture while also keeping unwanted moisture
out. Ask your packaging supplier to share the oxygen and moisture permeability
values for their products. According to Randy, foil is an excellent
barrier for both oxygen and moisture; cellophane is fairly good; polyethylene
is fairly good for moisture, but it is poor for oxygen. Watch out when
packaging products in shrink wrap or a cardboard stock box, as these materials
are basically providing dust covers and not a lot of protection from moisture
and oxygen.
Many films have layers to give the best protection and visual
appeal. This is often seen in flow-wrapped items. The bars can be cohesively
sealed (cold flow) or heat sealed. If heat sealed is used, be mindful that
excess heat is not used to de-temper the chocolate. Metalized wrap offers great
protection, but has the disadvantage of not being metal detector friendly.
Shipping
Considerations
When shipping or distributing items, acknowledge that conditions
may be different than on your premises and are out of your control. It is
always good to specify the target temperatures and relative humidity to your
distributor. If shipping items with ice packs, it is best to wrap both the ice
packs and the confections to prevent damage due to condensation.
We want our customers to enjoy the wonderful candies that we
have created. This requires a candy that is tasty to begin with; it is
formulated to have a good shelf life for texture, flavor and micro stability;
it is sold and consumed within its shelf life and finally the candies and the
packaging are appealing to all. This will result in having satisfied customers
and continued strong sales.
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