Innovative metal cans alternative passes food safety tests

The Klear Can technology, developed by Milacron Holdings Corp., has undergone and passed an important food safety test and is undergoing additional testing with a number of select prospects. Klear Can technology is a  revolutionary new option for food packaging and is an ideal alternative to metal cans that provides more than 2 year shelf-life and the ability to brand owners to show quality of product to consumers.  

The Milacron Klear Can can replace metal cans for fruits, vegetables, soups, meats, and other products. It uses the same filling, seaming and retorting machinery as metal cans so minimal downstream investment is required. The Klear Can enables manufacturers to produce/mold cans at the filling site (through the wall operations), be cost competitive to the metal can, and allow brand owners to demonstrate quality of the product to consumers.

Food or beverage containers, before they can be used commercially, needs to pass a universally accepted series of testing for potential leakage of the double seam or the container structure. The normal test is called Biotest, which is a comparative method of examining leakage rates of a container or its seals.

Double seaming is a metal forming process which utilizes a seaming chuck that fits the end being sealed onto the container. To achieve this, the first operation is seaming roll, which rolls the end curl material which is lined with a flexible compound onto the flange material of the container and the second operation rolls that irons out the resultant double seam formed between the end material and compound and the body material producing a hermetically sound seal.

Although the double seaming process appears simple, it encompasses a wide range of parameters which can influence the double seam performance and integrity. The double seam is the most complex and critical factor in ensuring that the seal between the can end, the can end compound and the body material will withstand processing temperatures up to 121 degrees centigrade. The seal must also withstand external factors related to the retorting process and handling without allowing a leakage path to form which could allow micro-organisms to enter or in the case of a beverage container, internal pressures to vent.

After conducting rigorous Biotests on the functionality of the Klear Can’s easy open double seamed lid process, it has been concluded this revolutionary container is suitably and safely sealed. This reflects the Klear Can’s innovativeness as this process is conducted on a standard metal can seaming line with the only change being rollers on a standard seaming chuck. Klear Can field testing continues in Belgium where the containers are filled with vegetables in an isolated environment and are ready for market trials. Consumer sampling tests have also been conducted with Klear Cans being filled with fruit and were presented within market surveys and to focus groups. To date consumers are giving the “thumbs-up” to Klear Can’s appeal and attractiveness.