This document discusses advancements in packaging materials and technologies for various milk and dairy products. It outlines the main packaging materials used for milk like HDPE jugs, PET bottles, and pouches. It also describes innovations in milk sachets, active and intelligent packaging to decrease lactose and limit stale flavors. Intelligent packaging technologies like smart tags and paper sensors are highlighted. Packaging for other products like evaporated milk, milk powder, ice cream, butter, yogurt, and cheese are also summarized along with recent developments in biodegradable and active packaging.

1. Advancements in Packaging of Milk and
Milk products

2. Milk
The main types of materials used for milk packaging
today include
• high-density polyethylene (HDPE) jugs.
• polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and
polycarbonate (PC) bottles.
• high impact polystyrene (HIPS) tubs.
• low-density polyethylene (LLDPE/LDPE) pouches.
• paper-coated containers and other multi-layered
composite materials that could be all polymers or
blends of aluminum foil and polymers.

3. Innovation in milk sachets
• Sachets –Chalk filled multilayer plastic pouch as
milk sachets
Outer PP
CaCO3 + PP
EVOH
Carbon black + PP
Inner LLDPE
CaCO3 – stiffness and integrity
EVOH – Protects against oxygen
Carbon black- protects against
light
LLDPE- sealing and contact layer

4. Active and intelligent packaging of milk
• To decrease lactose level – the edible cellulosic film embedded
with lactase was coated to a polymeric film by casting method.
• The aseptic packages incorporated with an oxygen-scavenging
film, limited the development of stale flavors in UHT milk
Perkins at al., (2007)
• A novel protein-loaded active packaging material that
scavenges the “cooked” and “stale” flavor compounds in UHT
milk was studied by Zabbia et al., (2009)

5. Intelligent packaging of milk
Smart tag
• Chinese scientist have
developed a smart tag which
changes from red to green
when the contents of a milk
carton are spoiled
Paper sensor
• Scientists at IIT, Guwahati, have
developed a paper kit that can
test freshness of milk and
pasteurization efficiency.
• Researchers used ordinary filter
paper to prepare the detector.
The filter paper was cut into
small discs and impregnated
with chemical probes that
preferentially react with alkaline
phosphatase (ALP). The
‘probes’ used are antibodies that
specifically bind to ALP. When
ALP comes into contact with the
probe, it turns white paper disc
into a coloured one.

6. Evaporated milk
• Packaging material used
• aluminum foil-lined cartons
• cups made with aluminum or polystyrene.
• Risk of lead contamination- earlier can were made
with vent holes which were sealed with lead, but
now cans are sealed by locking the curl on the lids
to the flange on the body of the opened can thus,
avoiding the lead contamination risk.

7. Milk powder
• Common packaging material used
• multilayer 50 kg Kraft paper and one layer of
polyethylene lining (25–75 mm thickness).
• Metal barrels lined with polyethylene bags
• cans sealed with an aluminum foil membrane
• metal cans and laminated polymeric packages
• Developments - composite cans made from
aluminum foil/polymer/paperboard laminates and
pouches made from aluminum foil polymers have
been replacing metal cans.

8. Ice ream
• oriented polypropylene (OPP) have replaced paper
designed specifically for frozen novelty packaging. It
has good marketing appeal, good moisture protection,
improved graphics and less dense than paper.
• Unilever peach ice cream "Solero Peach" is said to
contain 35 percent less plastics. It consists 95 percent
of pure cardboard.

9. • Nestlés Häagen Dazs ice cream is packed in double-walled
steel container so that it can be refilled and reused.
• In europe, Stora Enso company has developed "Cupforma
Natura Solo an innovative packaging material for ice cream
packaging. It is a cardboard and100% renewable

10. Butter
• Butter for retail sales
• wrapped in wet waxed, dry-waxed, grease-proof or
vegetable parchment paper, and aluminum foil
laminated with vegetable parchment or grease-
proof paper. polypropylene or LDPE containers with
lids of aluminum foil, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), or
polyethylene.
• Bulk packaging
• 25 kg blocks in LDPE lined paperboard cartons.
• metal cans.

11. Butter
• Recent advancements
• Active packaging films incorporated with
antimicrobial compounds that inhibit the growth of
fungi on the surface of the butter.
• Aromatized active films incorporated with herbs,
bacon and/or ham flavors with high consumer
acceptability

12. Yoghurt
Yoghurt is packed in
semi rigid- include cups and tubs with rigid bodies but
flexible lids.
Flexible containers -paperboard shaped in the form of
cartons. Pouches, standup pouches
Rigid containers- glass bottles.

13. Recent uses
• Fresh yogurt - thermoformed TiO2 pigmented high impact
polystyrene cups, with either an aluminium foil or plastic
laminate as closure
• Spoonable yogurt - barrier laminated materials
• Drinking-yogurt – HDPE or PET bottles sealed with aluminium
foil or LDPE caps.
• Probiotic yoghurt added with glucose oxidase (oxygen
scavenger) maintained low levels of dissolved O2 and cell
viability of B. longum and L. acidophilus up to 21 day of storage
at refrigerated temperature (Cruz et al., 2012).

14. Cheese
• Cryovac packaging- foods are sealed in a plastic
package using shrink films and pouches.
• cheese packaged in Cryovac containers improved
the starter culture viability and showed increased
proteolysis in the cheese.

15. MAP for cheese
• MAP is effective in control of mold growth, aflatoxin
formation and shelf-life extension of cheese.
• MAP packaging of stracciatella, green whey cheese
using CO2:N2:O2 gasses had slowed down the
growth of spoilage bacteria.
• MAP combined with edible coating (sodium alginate
lysozyme and EDTA disodium salt) improved the
preservation of Fior di Latte cheese by increasing
shelf life by 3 days.

16. Other packages combined with MAP
• Graviera cheese - Active oxygen absorbers with an
ethanol emitter (EE) have been used in combination
with 100% nitrogen MAP
• Tvarog - MAP with PLA packaging, inhibited fat
oxidation.
• Cheddar cheese - cellulose-based film containing
nisin with modified atmosphere have significantly
decreased population of L. innocua and S. aureus in
cheddar cheese.

17. Biodegradable packaging
• A vast number of biodegradable polymers have been identified
and used as packaging material.
• Renewable resources like agricultural waste, bacteria, plants
are good source of bio-polymers

18. • Drinking cup similar to a polystyrene disposable cup both in
appearance and characteristics.
• Green pens based on starch based Mater-Bi, developed by
Novamont, produced by injection molding.
• Razors manufactured using PHA by injection molding and insert
molding by the Kay Razor Company.
• Foamed trays made of thermoplastic starch by BIOTEC,
Germany.
• Lamination coatings, and Bags for agricultural mulching

19. • Wagh et al. (2014) wrapped cheddar cheese and milk sweet
with casein film and packed in LDPE pouches and revealed that
the shelf-life of products was increased.
• Pereira Jr et al. (2015) developed time temperature Indicator
(TTI) from chitosan, PVA and anthocyanins to indicate changes
in food quality by detecting changes in the pH of packaged
foods. They revealed that TTI was tested with evident changes
in film color on pasturized milk.
• Liu et al. (2016) developed an intelligent starch/PVA film that is
capable of monitoring pH changes and inhibiting undesirable
microbial growths. The film exhibited good color indication and
antimicrobial activity on pasteurized milk.