No description available.

No description available.

This thesis explores novel DV -activated, oxygen-sensitive systems. Thus, photochemical versions of the thermal blue-bottle experiment are used to illustrate the kinetics of PET reactions in homogeneous and heterogeneous photochemistry; the former via the visible light photobleaching of a MB/TEOA solution, and fast recovery in air, and the latter via the DV photobleaching of MB in a Ti02/glucose aqueous dispersion, with slow recovery, but which can be catalysed by Pt. A novel, acetone-based, water-proof Ti02/MB/glycerol/SPS colorimetric oxygen indicating film that coats on hydrophobic polymers is prepared, and is readily photobl~ached but recovers slowly. The rate of photobleaching is dependent upon DV A irradiance, [glycerol], [Ti02] and [MB]. The kinetics of the dark recovery were dependent upon T, %02, and RH. Ethanol replaced acetone, and a Pt catalyst was introduced - i.e. a Pt-Ti02/MB/glycerol/SPS colorimetric oxygen indicator, printable by flexo printing, resulted. The indicator is readily photobleached and recovery times reduced, with linear dependence upon %Pt loading. The recovery kinetics are zero order with respect to [LMB](, moderately dependent upon temperature, and sensitive to relative humidity. Pigment particles (MB and DL-threitol coated onto Ti02) are prepared and extruded in LDPE, to create a water-proof, solvent-based O2 smart plastic film. The blue-coloured indicator is readily photobleached and recovers in ~2.5 days. The rate of photobleaching is dependent upon the irradiance of UV A light. The rate of recovery is dependent upon %02, relative humidity and temperature. A Ti02 colloid is prepared for use with MB in a colorimetric oxygen indicating ink. This ink is suitable for printing onto polyester film by a DOD PU printer. The blue-coloured indicator is readily photobleached and recovers in - 12 hours in ambient air. The rate of recovery is linearly dependent upon the %02, moderately dependent upon relative humidity at 21 "C, and reduced upon reducing temperature.

This thesis focuses upon fictitious people as food brand icons and their role and visual representation in contemporary international food packaging. It presents a new lens that focuses upon the visual reading of examples. Through comparative analysis of historical and contemporary British, Canadian and American examples primarily, ones that share comparable roles and visual characteristics, the study considers its hypothesis: a common visual formula operates across time and cultures in the creation and enduring omnipresence of icons that appear as real. It considers how shared visual codes provide identification of types and through such it presents a taxonomy of fictitious brand icons based upon their visual identity. The thesis considers, in relation to notions of storytelling, how examples read and are understood as real upon packaging and within wider commercial, social and cultural contexts. It considers how they relate to real people and roles through specific consideration of female home economist/ consumer advisor examples. The thesis focuses upon the American food brand icon Betty Crocker to consider how she may be understood as symbolic of a host of enigmatic examples. The thesis advances the study of packaging, branding, culinary history and design history through its original focus and methodological approach which evidently have been neglected previously in academic study. It braids interdisciplinary perspectives to present an original understanding of brand icons and packaging. It determines brand icon as key term; to address the need for a clear definition and understanding . The study's visual reading and taxonomy present an original framework that assert that visual codes create complex commercial and cultural fictitious personalities that can be deliberately elusive yet often appear as real. In particular, its interrogation of specific fictitious brand icons as enigmatic commercial home economists/consumer advisors confirms the existence of a commercial sisterhood; clone-types that appear to replicate their roles and appearance via visual codes that endure and appeal.

Packaging plays a key role in product success within the highly competitive food and drinks sectors of the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry. However, relatively little has been written about packaging in the marketing management literature. The majority of published research focuses on the marketing communications aspects of packaging. As a result, whilst there is substantial literature revealing the significance of packaging in purchasing decisions and perceptions of the product, its role in product development and the creation of new opportunities has been largely overlooked. Against this background, the research examines the management of packaging development within the FMCG industry: in particular, the food and drinks sectors. The purpose of the study is twofold: to examine how the development of a new product’s packaging is managed and integrated into the new product development (NPD) process of firms; and to explore how firms in the industry manage the opportunities that new packaging development may provide. The research finds that in their packaging development, most firms focus on ‘skindeep’ issues, such as the development of the label, and aesthetic modifications to the body of the packaging, such as changing the colour of a bottle. The analysis reveals three distinct levels of packaging development and argues that the development of new packaging formats and genuine packaging innovation is being overlooked by firms. The framework developed from the research reveals that the orientation of packaging development (skin-deep, aesthetic body modifications, or technological format change) is influenced by internal packaging capability, perceptions of the production process, the role of buyers, and concerns over the impact of changes on the product’s retailing. This in turn impacts on the role of the consumer and suppliers in development. This study contributes to the existing literature by providing new insight into the relationship between packaging development and NPD. The framework generated contributes to the existing stage based models of NPD by revealing that previous research has largely failed to analyse packaging development at the level of technological and format change. The findings also have implications for firms, identifying a need to re-examine their packaging development activities, to ensure that these address all three levels; not merely ‘skin-deep’ packaging.

The food packaging industry is a £300bn global industry growing at a rate of 12% per year and increasingly favouring polymer or polymer-based materials. This generates 58m tonnes of "plastic" packaging waste annually in the EU and poses significant challenges for management given existing legislative constraints and increasing concerns surrounding the environmental impacts. The government, consumers, food retailers and pressure groups are all driving the demand for biodegradable packaging from renewable resources that can be disposed of with reduced impacts to the environment. Green Peace has devised a pyramid classification system of "Poisonous Plastics", which ranks plastics in terms of their harmfulness to the environment. They are campaigning against the use of oil-based materials and advocating the take up of biodegradable materials. The market for biodegradable food packaging is expanding rapidly but is still in its early stages of development and has not reached a critical mass to achieve significant market penetration. This is predominantly due to a lack of suitable materials that meet all environmental, functional and economical requirements. Whilst the long-term solution requires continued efforts in materials research and development, in the shorter term, changing working practices can abate the environmental impact of the industry. This research project tackled the challenge of environmental packaging from several directions: A novel starch-based material was developed that would fill the current gap in the food packaging market and facilitate recovery of the used materials by home composting. Using the sponsoring organisation as a case study, it was proved that by changing working practices by increasing rework and re-processing waste material for use in lower grade applications, both manufacturing costs and environmental impact can be reduced, thus benefiting both industry and the environment. A Life Cycle Assessment of selected biopolymers and oil-based polymers confirmed Green Peace's damning view of PVC and highlighted the need to develop biopolymers further. A domestic composting study of a range of commercially available "biodegradable" polymer materials revealed that a number of biodegradable packaging materials may typically biodegrade well in industrial high-temperature composting systems but fail to biodegrade under a low-temperature home composting environment and thus alerted the potential pitfall in waste management of some biodegradable polymers.

Ce travail de thèse avait pour objectif de mieux comprendre l’influence de l’incorporation d’une molécule active (arôme) et/ou de particules lipides sur la structure et les propriétés physico-chimiques de matrices filmogènes à base d'iota-carraghènane ou d'alginate de sodium. La microstructure, la granulométrie de l'émulsion filmogène, les caractéristiques thermiques et mécaniques des films ont été étudiées en présence ou non de n-hexanal. Les propriétés de transfert de ces films ont été appréhendées grâce aux mesures de perméabilité à l'oxygène, à la vapeur d'eau et à l'eau liquide, au n-hexanal et au D limonène à l'état vapeur et liquide et à 6 autres composés d'aromes (esters d'éthyle, cétone et alcools). L'ajout de n-hexanal dans la matrice d'iota-carraghènane modifie le processus de gélification ce qui induit la formation d'une microstructure plus homogène mais ayant une résistance mécanique moindre, augmente la perméabilité à la vapeur d'eau mais diminue légèrement celle de l'hexanal. Quant aux films d'alginate, ils sont peu sensibles à la présence de n-hexanal. Cette différence de comportement est attribuée aux interactions entre la fonction aldéhyde de l'arôme et les groupes OH et sulfate du carraghènane qui perturbent la formation des hélices lors de la gélification. L'organisation du gel d'alginate en boite à œuf lui confère une plus grande stabilité. L'ajout de lipide permet de diminuer la sorption et la perméabilité à la vapeur d'eau des matrices filmogène. En présence de la matière grasse, l'hexanal se comporte comme un émulsifiant et semble être localisé en surface des globules en augmentant la finesse et la stabilité des émulsions filmogènes. Les paramètres cinétique (diffusivité) et thermodynamique (sorption) ont été mesurés pour mieux caractériser les mécanismes impliqués dans le transfert Enfin, le paradoxe de Schroeder, correspondant à la différence de flux selon l'état physique de la molécule diffusante, a été observé et expliqué pour l'eau dans les films d'alginate et pour l'hexanal dans les films de carraghènanes. / The aim of this work was a better understanding of the effect of the aroma and/or lipid particles incorporation on the structure and physico-chemical properties of film-forming matrices based on iota-carrageenan or sodium alginate. Microstructure, emulsion granulometry, thermal and mechanical properties were assessed as a function of n-hexanal and/or lipid presence. Barrier efficiencies to water, n-hexanal and D-limonene at liquid and vapour states, and to 6 other aroma vapours (ethyl esters, alcohols, keton) have been measured. When n-hexanal is added in the carrageenan matrix, it modifies the gelation process which induces a more homogeneous structure but a lower mechanical resistance, a higher permeability to water and n-hexanal but slightly decreases that to oxygen. On the contrary, the aroma compound introduction does not affect so much the alginate film characteristics. This behaviour difference is due to the interaction between aldehyde group of the aroma compound and OH and sulphate groups of the carrageenans which disturbs the helix formation during gelation. The organisation of the alginate network as an "egg box" makes it more stable which explain it lower sensitivity to the aroma addition. When lipids are added, both sorption and water vapour permeability and the mechanical properties are reduced. The n-hexanal acts as an emulsifier by improving the emulsion droplet size and preventing the aggregation. Indeed, the aroma compound seems to be localised at the lipid particle surface. Kinetic (diffusivity) and thermodynamic (sorption coefficient) were measured or estimated to better characterise the aroma and moisture transfers through the hydrocolloid based films. Finally, discrepancy between liquid and vapour transfer rate measured for the same activity gradient (= Schroeder paradox), was observed for water through alginate films and for n-hexanal through carrageenan films. This was attributed to swelling and partial solubilisation of film components in the diffusing substance.

Les inquiétudes concernant la gestion des déchets sont croissantes dans un contexte environnemental préoccupant. De ce fait, il est apparu urgent de trouver des substituts aux plastiques conventionnels et les biopolymères semblent être une réponse prometteuse. Leurs propriétés leur permettent des usages très divers, de l'emballage alimentaire à la bio-ingénierie tissulaire en passant par la formulation cosmétique ou la pharmaceutique. S'ils jouissent d'une image positive et de l'intérêt croissant des scientifiques comme des industriels, on ne connait encore que peu leur comportement lors du vieillissement. Ce travail de thèse se propose d'étudier d'une part le vieillissement en enceinte climatique à paramètres contrôlés de certains polymères bio-sourcés et biodégradable (HPMC, Chitosan, PLA) et d'autre part, l'influence d'un traitement micro-onde sur des films de chitosan dans le cadre d'une utilisation comme le packaging alimentaire. Au cours du vieillissement, les biopolymères subissent plusieurs modifications structurales telles que des ruptures de chaînes et des phénomènes de cristallisation. Ces modifications altèrent les propriétés mécaniques des films de biopolymères. Par ailleurs, les films de chitosan, exposés au micro-onde, vont présenter un phénomène de jaunissement, révélateur de la production de composés néo-formés issus de la réaction de Maillard et susceptibles de migrer vers l'aliment en cas de contact avec le film de biopolymère / Today's increased environmental concerns and the growing questions about disposal management are contributing to growth in biopolymer industry. These materials are used in various fields such as pharmaceutic, bioengineering or tissue engineering as cell support, food formulation or packaging. In spite of a positive perception of biopolymers to improve environmental issues, biopolymers properties remain unknown, even though their biodegradability is well documented. Here we consider the influence of aging in climatic chamber on different biopolymers (HPMC, Chitosan and PLA) and in to what extent it could modify their structure and properties. Moreover, considering the opportunity for theses materials to be used as food packaging, influence of microwave heating was also tested on chitosan films. The food consumption trends tend, indeed, to the development of ready-to-eat meal that is why it is crucial to investigate theses biopolymers behavior when used in microwave oven in food contact. The aim of this study is to bring new knowledge of theses materials and to guarantee an optimal and safe use as a food contact packaging. The results showed several deep modifications in the biopolymers structure such as chain scissions or crystallization. These modifications involved a decrease in the polymer's properties. Chitosan films, exposed to increasing microwave heating times, showed gradually increasing yellowing. Maillard neoformed compounds are responsible for this color change and could be deleterious for consumer safety because of the possibility of migration in case of food contact

Ce travail de thèse a pour objectif de formuler un emballage comestible à base d’un mélange de chitosan et de gélatine (bœuf ou poisson), de mieux comprendre l’influence d’irradiations par faisceaux d’électrons et de l’incorporation d’antioxydants naturels sur les propriétés physico-chimiques et fonctionnelles des films. Une étude de l’effet de l’irradiation sur la cinétique de libération des antioxydants dans un milieu liquide simple a été étudiée pour validation. Une étude préliminaire a montré d’abord que la densification de la solution filmogène puis du gel pendant le séchage ne dépend ni de l’épaisseur, ni de la concentration, ni du temps et laisse supposer une diffusion Fickienne de l’eau dans la matrice. La perméabilité à la vapeur d’eau augmente linéairement avec l’épaisseur de films et d’autant plus lorsque l’étendue du différentiel d’humidités relatives est élevé. Ce phénomène est attribué à un mécanisme de gonflement et de plastification du réseau de gélatine-chitosan par l’eau. L’effet du taux de mélange de deux biopolymères a montré une amélioration des propriétés mécaniques et barrières à l’eau et à l’oxygène des films de chitosan. Ces gains de performances sont dus à la bonne miscibilité des deux macromolécules et aux interactions moléculaires établies suite à la formation d’un complexe polyélectrolytique, confirmé par analyse FTIR. L’irradiation des films après séchage accroit la polarité de surface et l’hydrophilie des films et ainsi induit une augmentation des propriétés barrières à la vapeur d’eau et à l’oxygène, mais aussi des mécaniques et thermiques des films. Toutefois, l’irradiation ne modifie pas la cristallinité des films. L’incorporation des antioxydants (acide férulique, coumarine, quercétine et tyrosol) avec ou sans irradiation agit différemment, selon leur nature, sur l’organisation du réseau macromoléculaire et donc sur les propriétés des films. Ainsi, l’acide férulique et le tyrosol réduise la perméabilité à la vapeur d’eau mesurée à un gradient de 0-30% d’humidité relative, alors qu’ils l’augmentent jusqu’à 90 fois avec un gradient 30-84% et un traitement d’irradiation. La perméabilité à l’oxygène diminue d’une façon significative après ajout de quercétine ou de tyrosol et après irradiation. L’acide férulique et la coumarine augmente la force à la rupture des films alors que ce sont la quercétine et l’acide férulique qui permettent d’accroitre la résistance thermique des films. Ces résultats mettent ainsi en évidence la complexité des interactions mises en jeu entre les antioxydants et les chaînes de chitosan et/ou de gélatine, leur dépendance au niveau d’hydratation du système et à l’impact du traitement de réticulation par irradiation. Il faut noter que l’irradiation a permis de protéger les molécules actives contre l’oxydation durant une longue période de stockage des films. La libération en milieu aqueux de l’acide férulique est la plus ralentie avec une rétention dans les films la plus élevée à l’équilibre (27%). Les coefficients de diffusion des antioxydants, déterminés à partir des cinétiques de libération ont pu être modulés (50%) grâce à l’irradiation. / This thesis aims to develop an edible packaging made of a mixture of chitosan and gelatin (beef or fish), to better understand the influence of the electron beam irradiation and of the incorporation of natural antioxidants on the physico-chemical and functional properties of the films. A study of the effect of irradiation on antioxidants release kinetics in a simple liquid medium was studied for validation. A preliminary study first showed that the densification of the film-forming solution and the gel during drying does not depend on the thickness or concentration or time and suggests a Fickian diffusion of water in the matrix. The permeability to water vapor increases linearly with film thickness and especially when the extent of the relative humidity differential is high. This phenomenon is attributed to a swelling mechanism and plasticization of the gelatin-chitosan network by the water. The effect of the chitosan-gelatin ratio showed an improvement of the mechanical properties and barrier to water and oxygen of the films compared to chitosan films. These performance gains are due to the good miscibility of the two macromolecules and to the molecular interactions established after the formation of a polyelectrolyte complex, as confirmed by FTIR analysis. Irradiation of films after drying increases the polarity of the surface and the film hydrophilicity, and thus induces an increase in barrier properties to water vapor and oxygen, and also of the mechanical and thermal films. However, irradiation does not change the crystallinity of the films. The incorporation of antioxidants (ferulic acid, coumarin, quercetin and tyrosol) with or without irradiation acts differently on the organization of the macromolecular network and thus on the film properties. Thus, ferulic acid and tyrosol reduce the permeability of water vapor measured in a gradient of 0-30% relative humidity, while it increases up to 90 times with a gradient 30-84 % and an irradiation treatment. The oxygen permeability decreases significantly after addition of quercetin or tyrosol and after irradiation. Ferulic acid and coumarin increases the tensile strength of the films while they are quercetin and ferulic acid which allow to increase the thermal resistance of the films. These results thus demonstrate the complexity of the interactions involved between antioxidants and the chains of chitosan and/or gelatin, their dependence on the moisture level of the system and on the impact of cross-linking treatment by irradiation. It is noticed that the irradiation has protected the active molecules against oxidation for a long period of storage of the films. Release in aqueous medium of ferulic acid is the more delayed with the highest retention in the film at equilibrium (27%). The antioxidants diffusion coefficients, determined from the release kinetics, could be modulated (about 50%) by the irradiation treatments.

La quantité de déchets augmente depuis plusieurs décénies, issus principalement de l'industrie du plastique. La production cumulée de matières plastiques au cours des dix dernières années est supérieure que pendant le dernier millénaire. Une des solutions pour réduire les impacts écologiques et économiques est de dévelopement de films et enrobages biodégradables et/ou comestibles.L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier des films et enrobages comestibles à base d'amidon. Quinze types de solutions filmogènes ont été formulés: 3 types d’amidons, amidon + protéines, amidon + huile de colza, amidon + plastifiant. Afin de mieux comprendre le rôle des constituants et les interactions mises en jeu, les propriétés physico-chimiques et structurales des films ont été réalisées. Enfin, les films présentant les meilleurs compromis ont été appliqués sur des prunes.L’étude physico-chimique des films à base d’amidon de maïs, de pommes de terre et de de blé ont permis de retenir l’amidon de blé pour les études suivantes. Une quantité de plastifiant de 50% (par rapport à la masse sèche de biopolymère) a été sélectionnée car elle permet d'obtenir des films souples et resistants sans blanchiment. Afin d'améliorer l'efficacité barrière à l'humidité, de l'huile de colza a été ajoutée par laminage sur le film d’amidon. Les observations de la microstructure montrent une dispersion de gouttelettes d’huile dans la matrice à la place d’une structure multicouche amidon-huile-amidon. Diverses proportions amidon/protéine ont été testées pour améliorer les propriétés fonctionnelles des films. Plus la teneur en protéines est élevée, meilleure est l'efficacité barrière à la vapeur d'eau, à l'oxygène ou aux arômes. En effet, les films sont plus denses et homogènes en présence des protéines. A partir de la meilleure compréhension du rôle de la composition et de la structure sur les performances des films, plusieurs formulations ont été testées comme enrobage ou film sur des prunes fraîches. L’analyse thermographique a été utilisée pour étudier le comportement des prunes pendant le stockage, l’enrobage/film composé de l’amidon enrobage s’est avéré efficace pour retarder la dégradation des fruits. / The amount of waste increased annually, mainly from plastic industry. Plastic materials were more produced during the only last ten years than during the last millennium. A potential solution of the ecological and economic problems can be biodegradable or edible films and coatings. The goal of this thesis was to study edible films and coatings based on starch. Fifteen types of film-forming solutions were made: 3 types of starch, starch + different amounts of plasticizer, starch + proteins, starch + oil. To better understanding the interaction between film components, physical, chemical and functional tests were done. Finnaly, validation on real foods (plums) as coatings and films helped to improved edible barrier films for fruit and vegetable preservation.Preliminary physico-chemical studies of corn, potato and wheat starch film properties allowed choosing the wheat starch-based films further experiments. Then, a 50% amount of plasticizer related to dry biopolymer weight was selected aiming to obtain films being not too rigid, that did not break and without blooming. To prove the barrier moisture efficacy, rapeseed oil was added as multilayers films. Microstructure observations displayed that oil was dispersed as droplets instead of layer, thus emulsion-based films were obtained instead of multilayer starch-oil-starch films. Various ratios of starch/protein were assessed to improve functional properties of films. The more the protein content was, the better the barrier efficiency against water vapour, oxygen or aroma were. Indeed, higher protein content films were more dense and homogeneous. From these data obtained on films, and the better understanding how composition and structure affect film performances, several recipes were tested as coatings or films for wrapping fresh plums. Thermographic analysis was used to study the plums behavior during storage, and starch coating was efficient to delay fruit degradation. / Z każdym rokiem wzrasta liczba produkowanych odpadów, w szczególmości tych z plastiku. W ciągu pierwszych dziesięciu lat wyprodukowano więcej tworzyw sztucznych niż w przeciągu całego ubiegłego tysiąclecia. Rozwiązaniem tych ekologicznych i ekonomicznych problemów mogą okazać się filmy i powłoki do żywności. Celem tej pracy były studia nad jadalnymi filmami i powłokami na bazie skrobi. Piętnaście rodzajów roztworów powłokotwórczych zostało wytworzonych: z 3 typów skrobi, skrobia + różne stężenia plastyfikatora, skrobia + białka, skrobia + olej. W celu lepszego zrozumienia interakcji pomiędzy komponentami filmu właściwości fizyczne, chemiczne i funkcjonalne zostały zmierzone. W ostatnim etapie walidacja na prawdziwej żywności (powlekanie i pakowanie śliwek) pomogła w udowodnieniu istnienia właściwości barierowych owoców i warzyw podczas przechowywania.Próbne testy fizyko-chemiczne skrobi kukurydzianej, ziemniaczanej i pszenicznej pomogły w wyborze skrobi otrzymywanej z pszenicy do dalszych badań. Następnie wybrano zawartość plastyfikatora. 50% glicerolu względem suchej masy substancji powłokotwórczej nie powodowało twardości i pękania filmów ani też tzw. efektu kwitnienia (intensywnie żółty/ pomarańczowy kolor filmów). W celu poprawy właściwości barierowych olej rzepakowy został dodany. Zdjęcia mikroskopowe obrazują zawieszone krople oleju w matrycy jako emulsja zamiast dodatkowej warstwy, której oczekiwano. Do skrobi zostały dodane również białka serwatkowe w kilku proporcjach. Im więcej białek jest w stosunku procentowym skrobia/proteiny tyym lepsze są właściwości barierowe dla pary wodnej, tlenu i aromatów. Dodatkowo filmy zawierające więcej protein w stosunku procentowym są bardziej gęste i jednolite. Uzyskane informacje pozwoliły na lepsze zrozumienie wpływu kompozycji i struktury filmów i powłok na pakowanie świeżych śliwek. Analiza z użyciem kamery termowizyjnej pozwoliła na ocenę zmian w owocach podczas przechowywania, zaś powłoka skrobiowa efektywnie opóźniała procesy degradacyjne w owocach.