Foodservice applications

Poly(styrene) tear back lids are commonly used in foodservice applications, in particular as covers for hot cups. It is known that the tearability of a poly(styrene) tear back lid can be improved by 

The manufacturers of PS lids for hot cups have begun to investigate inclusion of filler into the lids to reduce the costs of manufacturing such lids. Historically, PS lids for hot applications have not included a significant amount of filler. Primarily this is due to two reasons. First, PS has traditionally been a low cost raw material and, as such, there was little motivation to include any filler into a formulation. Further, PS used in hot cup lid applications is in general HIPS. HIPS is FDA compliant and exhibits good thermoformability due to its low brittleness. 

Since a filler is known to increase the brittleness of PS, it was not desired to negate the low brittleness of HIPS with the addition of filler, since this was a property for which HIPS was selected for use in thermoformed hot cup lid applications. 

However, it has been found that a filler can be added within a specified range to provide a suitably tearable filled thermoformed HIPS container lid when the tear back portion of the lid is oriented in the extrusion direction of the PS, when the tear back lid comprises two sets of tear indentations and a tab portion. In this way, the lid is prepared from a HIPS composition consisting essentially of from 10-15% calcium carbonate as filler (28). 

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Following the sale of the film business to Novamont in 2000, Biotec offers starch-based materials for foodservice products and pharmaceutical applications. 

The major classes of biopolymer, starch and starch blends, polylactic acid (PLA) and aliphatic-aromatic co-polyesters, are now being used in a wide variety of niche applications, particularly for manufacture of rigid and flexible packaging, bags and sacks and foodservice products. However, market volumes for biopolymers remain extremely low compared with standard petrochemical-based plastics. For example, biopolymer consumption accounted for just 0.14% of total thermoplastics consumption in Western Europe for 2005. 

Packaging, including foodservice, is easily the largest end use market for PLA with 70% of total consumption in 2005. Textile fibres account for an estimated 23% of total volumes. Other applications, with just 7% of total volumes, include speciality cards and sheet, agricultural products and a wide range of injection moulded products. 

Industrial Margarines. Foodservice and food processor margarines and spreads are considered industrial products. These products are formulated or packaged for more specific applications than the consumer products. The most popular... 

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