Military Food Packaging Research (3)

1. Canned canned food is the head of military food. The cans can be stored at room temperature for a long period of time and are resistant to adverse conditions. In the current downturn in the canned food market, the military still has a soft spot for it. Canned packaging is divided into flexible packaging, hard packaging, and semi-rigid packaging in between, depending on its hardness. From the development trend, these three kinds of packaging have military development prospects.

1 hard package

Military food is developed from hard canned food. The strong ability to withstand bad conditions in hard cans is the most important advantage of hard cans. For example, rats have no way to make hard cans. Hard cans have low requirements for external packaging, and they have strong impact resistance during storage and transportation.

Hard cans are mainly used in collective foods in field foods, or in general foods, depending on the current situation of the military. Hard canned packaging in the future military development trends are as follows:

a. Easy opening: As mentioned before, hard cans have the disadvantage of opening difficulties. In recent years, a number of easy-open lids have been introduced to military foods, such as 962-diameter cans with a diameter of 90 millimeters and a can of Babao porridge with a smaller diameter. However, this cannot meet the requirements of military cans. Because the most used military cans are 1068 cans with a diameter of 100 mm. Due to technical reasons, such a large-calibre, easy-opening cover still does not pass at home. In addition, there are still technical problems such as easy breakage of the pull ring and uneven depth of the reticle. Therefore, the study of easy-open lid hard cans is one of the main directions for the development of military cans in the future.

b. Shaped cans: The US Army’s T-ration is actually a rectangular flat can, and it uses chrome-plated tinplate. 3 kg of food. The ration of T is actually a two-piece can, consisting of two parts: the bottom and the lid. Such cans can be used as cooking utensils, can be placed on fire or on a steam table for heating and heat preservation, and can also be used as tableware to replace dishes and bowls, thereby improving the convenience of use of military foods. At the same time, it is also a storage container. At present, China does not have the ability to produce such large rectangular cans. Its technical difficulty is mainly due to the high scrap rate at the time of sealing, which leads to high production costs and cannot be applied.

c. Coating: The canned food can be stored for more than 3 years. Moreover, sulfur- and acid-resistant coatings are required. At present, some military cans often suffer from can body corrosion.

2 flexible packaging

Canned soft cans are based on hard cans. The main problem with soft packaging is poor ability to withstand adverse conditions in the outside world, and the sealability is more vulnerable than hard cans. Aluminum foils have poor resistance to wrinkles, and when the vacuum is high, the wrinkles generated in the bag tend to produce pinholes. In addition, rodent control is also an important issue.

Canned soft cans are mainly used in individual foods in the field food according to the current situation of the military. If it is technically improved, it may also be used for collective food. Soft canned packaging will develop in the following directions:

a. Aluminum foil bag: Aluminum foil has good barrier properties, including gas and light. However, the ability to resist wrinkles is poor, and in the case of wrinkles, aluminum foil is prone to breakage and the like. By combining with other materials to improve the anti-wrinkle performance is a direction for future research.

b. Composite materials: A new flexible packaging bag is manufactured by compounding materials with high barrier properties, puncture resistance, and high temperature resistance. This bag has an outstanding advantage over aluminum foil bags in that it can be heated in microwaves, but its light-blocking properties are poor and some measures need to be taken to make up for it.

c. Heat-sealing layer: In the production of soft cans, if the mouth of the bag is contaminated, such as oil stains, the seal may not be tight, or the strength is reduced, this problem has a great influence on the production speed, and also affects the quality of the product.

At present, relevant experts are discussing the use of a new heat sealing layer, which still has good sealing strength under the conditions of oil contamination. This breakthrough in technology will have a major impact on flexible packaging technology.

d. Anti-rat: The things that can be bitten by the mouse in soft packaging can occur from time to time. Especially in combat conditions, the field food stored in a simple field warehouse is even more so. This situation severely limits the use of soft cans. In the future, this problem will be solved either by the strength of the packaging material or by using an unpleasant odor in the packaging material added to the mouse.

e. Natural degradation: In view of environmental protection requirements, development can naturally degrade flexible packaging materials.

3 semi-hard packaging

Semi-rigid packaging is a new type of canned packaging material. Because it lies between hard cans and soft cans, it takes into account some of the advantages of both. Especially in the open than hard, soft cans are better. The development of new semi-hard canned materials will be one of the directions for the development of future military cans.

a. Aluminum-plastic packaging: Used in some field foods of foreign troops. If the sauce, cream and some seasonings. Aluminium plastic cans are gas-containing cans. Because of the large geographical area in China, there is a large plateau. Canned gas can produce physical fat listening in high altitude areas. To use aluminum cans in our military, we must solve this problem only if there are prospects.

b. Multi-layer co-extruded packaging: This material uses EVOH as a barrier material and can withstand high temperatures of 121°C. Because plastics have a good formability, it is easy to be made into a grid shape, and the top is made of heat-sealing plastic composite materials. In this way, there are several types of meals in one box. This is difficult for metal cans. Domestic companies have trial-produced such packaging materials, and we are prepared to carry out experimental research in this area in the future. Such packaging should be the most promising. Moreover, it will have a good development value in the civilian market.

2. Dry product packaging

Dry products are resistant to storage at room temperature, so many military foods use this form. Our military dry products use a wide range of materials, such as tinplate, aluminum foil and composite packaging materials.

1 oxygen packaging

Most military dried foods contain oils, some of which are still relatively high, such as compressed dry foods. The most critical factor affecting the shelf life of such foods is fat oxidation. Therefore, such products must be packed with good oxygen barrier properties. According to the current situation of packaging development, such as tinplate, aluminum foil packaging bags, and multi-layer composite bags will be used in large quantities in military foods. In particular, some dried products, such as dehydrated rice, have a low oil content, but they are also very prone to hazel flavor. The packaging requirements for this product are the same as for high-oil products.

2 water and steam packaging

Some dry products themselves have better storage properties, such as dehydrated noodles. This product can be stored for a long time as long as it prevents the absorption of moisture. Therefore, the packaging materials used in this type of product are relatively simple and relatively inexpensive.

3. Edible packaging

Some advanced foreign troops are studying edible packaging. This kind of packaging is often used for internal packaging. On the one hand, it can reduce the volume and quality of the packaging and increase the edible part of the whole set of food. On the other hand, it can increase the convenience of use, reduce the contamination of food, and remove dregs. At present, our military has less research on edible packaging, but this will be a very promising research content.

4. Combined packaging

Military food is usually composed of a variety of products. If there are cans, there are compressed dry foods, seasonings, etc. The packaging used when these products are combined into a food or daily food according to a certain nutritional composition is a combination package. According to different use occasions, different materials are used for combination packaging. At present, the materials used for combination packaging include cartons, composite bags, plastic boxes, and tinplate. The most important principle of these materials is to reduce weight and price while providing protective performance.

5. Protective packaging

The requirements for military food in modern warfare are constantly increasing. Due to the rapidity and flexibility of combat operations, military foods are required to stand up to airdrops and umbrellas, float on water, and prevent damage and pollution caused by the explosion of various nuclear weapons. At present, used as a protective packaging foam, glass wool and so on.

Both of these materials can float on the surface of the water, and also can better cushion the impact force generated by the airdrop. Research in this area needs to be further strengthened.

6. Insulation packaging

In order to improve the sensory acceptance of military foods, the military has developed a self-heating flameless heater. This heater can heat the canned food center temperature to about 60°C. In order to effectively increase the efficiency of the heating plate, prevent the loss of heat, and prevent the skin from being burned due to excessive temperature, insulation materials are needed. This packaging material requires a small volume and good heat insulation.

7. Packaging

Military food packaging now uses cardboard boxes. It is expected that in the future, it may be combined with protective packaging to produce a cardboard and plastic composite outer packaging.

In a word, the packaging of military foods will develop towards light weight, reliability, increased functionality, and biodegradation.

Source of information: pack.cn