Chapter 2
I Technology Transported; 1788-1840
II Technology Established; 1840-1940
III The Coming Of Science
IV From Science To Technology: The Post-war Years
V Products And Processes
i Frozen Foods
ii Instant and Convenience Foods
iii Dairy Technology
iv Packaging
VI Conclusion
VII Acknowledgements
References
Index
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Packaging (continued)
Plastic packaging for food suffered a check in 1973 with the recognition of some cases of a rare angiosarcoma in workers in the factories making polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the detection of traces of vinyl chloride monomer in some foods and beverages packaged in PVC containers. There was no indication that these traces in food were of any public health significance but immediate steps were taken in Australia, as elsewhere, to establish standards for plastics for food contact. Food packed in film or rigid containers made according to those standards will conform with the very tight regulations now current for residues of monomers and other constituents of plastics permitted to be present in food offered for sale in Australia.Packaging technology has been provided to the Australian food industry by the packaging companies. This goes back a long way because can sellers, for example, often hired out can filling and closing equipment which they then maintained in the canneries. Consequently, even large companies with their own packaging laboratories left most of the can technology to their suppliers who were, of course, expert in the field. To some extent this applied also to fibreboard containers and even later to plastics. Industry does, however, owe a debt to CSIRO even though some of the larger companies developed their own expertise, especially in flexible films, as has already been noted.
Organisations in Australian Science at Work - CSIRO
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Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition page 141, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/142.html