A new era could be dawning for premade food pouches that use emerging electron beam technology for sterilization, led by Italian pouch leader Gualapack.

          The company told that is building aseptic filling equipment that incorporates e-beam technology to produce customized, premade pouches in one fo the first applications for the technology with pouches. Gualapack’s goal is to have the machinery built by the end of 2010 and installed in early 2011 at a customer location, said Gualapack product engineer manager Stefano Tamarindo. (As an aside, Tamarindo will share this development in a presentation at the 2010 Global Pouch Forum.)

          The company, one of the world’s largest makers of pouches with about 620mn produced annually, had been looking to move away from retorting to sterilize its food pouches. Retorting uses considerable energy and water and can affect the organoleptic (or taste) qualities of the food, Tamarindo emphasized. Gualapack decided to switch to aseptic processing; while more expensive on the equipment side, the aseptic process could reduce waste and help minimize production costs, he added.

          Yet, while aseptic applications are widely used in for PET and other rigid plastic bottles, they are more challenging for pouches, he added.

          “With the inside edges and hidden spots on pouches, you cannot guarantee that sterilization is spread throughout the pouch,” Tamarindo noted. And while gamma ray technology offered some advantages, pouches needed to be transported to outside facilities, upping the cost factors.

          Ultimately, e-beam had emerged as a potential solution. Gualapack contracted with Advanced Electron Beams (AEB), one of the e-beam pioneers that has recently launched food and beverage packaging applications for containers after years of development. The small, directed emitter technology is fairly low cost and can be integrated with existing sterilization equipment.

          Gualapack now plans to become one of the first companies globally to produce premade pouches with e-beam technology and hopes to use what Tamarinod termed “more reliable technology” that can build more interest in the pouch.