Company: Performance Packing of Nevada

Website: www.pplv.co

Packaging Snapshot: Performance Packaging of Nevada introduced its AIRSHIELD capability, which has the goal of extending the shelf life of packaged foods. The process is designed to chemically remove oxygen from rigid and flexible packages such as pouches and packages containing fitments or solid closures. The AIRSHIELD process has been in development for two years and only uses compounds considered GRAS (“generally recognized as safe”) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is anticipated that AIRSHIELD, which has a patent pending, will be available to food processors and packagers by early 2017.

The first applications of AIRSHIELD will be to flexible pouches of foods which are found through two of Performance Packaging’s patented offerings: its PouchPops and SipP pouches.

While highly proprietary, it can be acknowledged that AIRSHIELD’s technical components are constructed so that they don't start working until food is placed into the package.  Any oxygen permeating through the pouch encounters tortuosity (a maze-like path for oxygen permeation created by the addition of mineral compounds in the package). The addition of AIRSHIELD facilitates oxidation in the presence of moisture, giving AIRSHIELD its unique capabilities.