35 TRADE SHOW REVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 23 No. 11/22 www.petpla.net Faster and cooler than ever optiSTACK saves your time and money! German Technology Freshness control and tethered caps United Caps demonstrated a whole new range of closures and technologies. Highlights included the Mimica touch cap and Fit for a King UCTC tethered cap solutions. In producing the touch cap, the company collaborated with the British Mimica Lab, which has been working in the field of freshness control on external food packaging surfaces since 2020. The result is an affordable cap that, according to United Caps, can be used to provide a simple freshness check for products that have already been opened and also to give more detailed information than the printed best-before date. The general rule is that if you run your finger over the visually marked part of the closure, the drink will be of high quality if the surface feels smooth. However, the opposite will be true if small bumps are discernible. The whole process works by using patented gel technology incorporated within the closure and activated when a drink is first opened. During activation, a chemical reaction causes the gel, which is solid at first, to become liquid over time, enabling you to then feel the integrated bumps that could not be discerned previously due to their solidity. According to the manufacturer, the gel is able to determine when a drink has been spoiled based on time and ambient temperature and without coming into contact with the drink’s contents. This means that beverages which have already been opened can be stored for longer and possibly prevented from being disposed of prematurely. The closure consists of a base and over cap made by United Caps that contains Mimica’s activator liquid, the gel and inlay of bumps and a foil label that becomes uneven in the event of spoilage. The touch cap is fully recyclable along with the bottle, according to United Caps. The base cap is added first during the filling process, with minor adjustments made to the filling system and an over cap fitted using a special inline assembly unit. According to CEO Benoit Henckes, retail waste could be reduced by 50% and household waste of perishable goods by 63% if the shelf life of food was extended by just two days. Brands using this technology could increase their sales by around 10%, for example by encouraging consumers to buy larger containers of items such as orange juice without having to worry about expiry dates before the products are fully consumed. A UK orange juice brand is currently testing the closure as part of a pilot project. It is estimated that extending the shelf life of perishable foods by just one day could save more than 202,8 million tonnes of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere. United Caps also showed off its Fit for a King tethered caps range which forms part of the company’s new approach to sustainability and designed to meet the requirements of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive. The range includes both the Crown Jewel injection-moulded premium cap and the No Drama Queens slitted closure. According to the company, the caps have been developed with support from a consortium of packaging industry sector leaders to ensure that these closures have the least possible impact on production systems. Both products come in a variety of different colours to meet the needs of a wide range of brand owners and product types. These include carbonated and still drinks, as well as juices and dairy products. www.unitedcaps.com Mimica touch cap United Caps’ booth at Drinktec
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