Ciba Specialty Chemicals And FreshPoint Present Time-Temperature Indicators At Emballage Trade Fair
Ciba Specialty Chemicals and FreshPoint are presenting OnVu, the revolutionary new time-temperature indicator (TTI) system that shows at a glance the freshness of perishable goods, at Stand B 069 in Hall 4 at the Emballage trade fair in Paris from November 20-24, 2006.
"The first OnVu TTIs, designed for meat, fish, dairy products and convenience food with a shelf life of 5-6 days at 5°C, have attracted great interest and are being widely tested in the industry," said Hermann Angerer, Global Head of Ciba Specialty Chemicals' Coating Effects Segment. "A new generation of TTIs, designed for products with a shelf life of one week and more, such as processed meats and specific dairy products, is currently being developed."
The most common causes of spoilage of chilled food and beverages are too high temperatures during storage and transport. OnVu TTIs allow producers, retailers and consumers to check whether perishable products have been correctly stored and supplied, thus helping to enhance consumer convenience and confidence, strengthen the reputation of brands using them and optimize shelf life.
OnVu TTIs are supplied either as printing inks or labels and can in principle be used for any product that is sensitive to temperature. They give a visual summary of a product's accumulated chill-chain history, recording the effects of both time and temperature. Every indicator is tailored to the shelf life and optimum storage conditions of the product it is designed to monitor. By providing essential information on chill-chain history, OnVu TTIs also help to optimize shelf life, since suppliers and retailers will no longer need to discard products prematurely to cover for potential spoilage, caused, for example, by incorrect storage.
OnVu TTI technology relies on the properties of pigments that change color over time and when temperatures fluctuate. The label or display consists of a reference color and an OnVu TTI. Once activated by a suitable light source, the TTI first becomes dark and then grows progressively lighter as time passes and also if and when the ambient temperature rises. Exposure to higher temperatures than those prescribed, therefore, accelerates the lightening process of the color. When the activated color attains the same shade as the reference, the product has reached the end of its shelf life.
SOURCE: Ciba Specialty Chemicals and FreshPoint