Pet food and pasta products were the leaders of the pack at the 15th annual DuPont Awards held August 9 in Philadelphia. Thirteen international food and non-food packaging innovations were honored in a tough competition year marked by a high level of consumer-pleasing and technological breakthroughs.

In an unprecedented move, an independent judging panel deemed two packages worthy of the top honor. The Diamond award was presented to Tetra Pak for the first retortable carton packaging system for Nestle Pet Food and to Cryovac for oxygen scavenging lidding film for longer shelf-life for Nestle® Buitoni® fresh pasta.

Nestle® Friskies dog food is the first retortable carton packaging system on the market. The system uses a six-layer laminate structure that includes plastic polymers to help the structure withstand the rigors of a low-acid food retort process. It employs aluminum foil as an oxygen barrier and moisture resistant fiberboard. The Tetra Recart™ system provides an alternative to metal cans or glass and is suitable for vegetables, soups, ready-meals, fruit and pasta meals.

Nestle Buitoni brand pasta uses Cryovac® OS oxygen scavenging film to help reduce product spoilage and increase shelf life. The first of its kind in the fresh pasta category, the package structure is a saran-coated PET laminated to coextruded multi-layer sealants. The sealant layers improve seal integrity and help optimize the film’s oxygen scavenging performance.

The film features a “triggering” process that continues to scavenge oxygen independently of the product or environment in which it is used, allowing more time for distribution.

Food category Gold Award winners included a portable, resealable wide mouth aseptic plastic package for Gerber Products/Novartis Consumer produced on Hassia equipment; the LINfresh Plus™ foam tray with an inner layer for absorbency from LINPAC Plastics; and a triangular plastic can shaped to fit Procter & Gamble’s Torengos stacked tortilla chips. The new chip package was produced by Consolidated Container Company, MRI Flexible Packaging, Ivex Packaging and Fleming Packaging.

Others receiving the Gold Award were an easy to seal slider zipper package for Kraft Cheese produced by Minigrip/ZIP-PAK, Pechiney Plastics Packaging, the ITW Technical Center and Pacmac Inc.; Sargento shredded cheese in a slider package produced by Curwood; and a slider zipper that protects fresh produce from Eldorado Farms, produced by Pliant Corporation.

Food category Silver Awards featured kid-friendly convenience packaging for wrapped slices of peanut butter and jelly by Schreiber Foods produced by Printpack, Inc.; “Soup at Hand” in a sippable, portable cup from Campbell Soup; Bacon Bits in stand-up pouch with a zipper from Kraft Oscar Mayer® Division; a large gusseted pet food package with a flat square bottom, produced by Bischolf + Klein and Reinhold Maschinen-und Geratebau Gmbh; and biodegradable packaging for disposable plates, bowls and sandwich wraps from EarthShell Corp.

For more information:

DuPont, 1-800 438-7225; www.dupont.com/packaging