Packaging and levelling is the last and most important step after the processing of yoghurt.
Different processing industries use different kind of packaging material for yoghurt and our
target is to pack 1000 kg yoghurt. Here, for our processed yoghurt we prefer to use
sustainable packaging material. The material we are going to use for our industry is modified
PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) cups. The research studies reported that this material is highly
degradable and the most imperative thing is it doesn’t affect the physical, chemical and
biological qualities of yoghurt. Upon comparing with other packaging materials such as PP
(POLYPROPYLENE) it was observed that the product stored in PLA showed no changes in
bacterial growth and yoghurt quality. Whereas, the PP material affects the quality of yoghurt
(Ahmed and Varshney)1.
Moreover, this PLA material is better than the glass jars which was recommended by Misty
Glen for their yoghurt production industry. No doubt the glass jars are good for the storage as
they don’t affect the quality of food products for long period of time but this material has
some major drawbacks. These are difficult to transport because these are highly breakable.
Also, the transportation charges for glass jars are higher than PLA packages. Apart from this,
glass material release more carbon residues than PLA material. So, we recommend PLA
material as it is more eco-friendly and degrades completely in 40 days by 50% (Petchwattana
and Naknaen)2.
Machines used for packaging:
The packaging machine which as we found best for yoghurt packaging is Automatic rotary
yoghurt cup sealing machine. As per our research it is best yoghurt cup filling and sealing
machine. This machine belongs to Shanghai Genyond Technology Co., Ltd. This is best
sealing machine all around the world as this company is making this machines from last 8
years. This machine is made up of stainless steel material. This machine performs various
functions and this is completely automatic machine. This machine fills the cups with yoghurt
and seals them with better sealing material. After that, it cut numerous cups at a same time
and moved them for further processing and that is labelling. The mode of machine is XBG50-
20 which packs 1000-2000cups/hour. The cost of this machine is $2,000- $8,000
([Link], 2022)3.
Source of image: [Link] (2022)
Labelling- The labelling is done by the producer who can provide the PLE cups of custom
sizes and colourful labels printed on the cups. The average cost per cup would vary from CA
$0.0513 to $0.01282. The supplier is based in china under the Fuling Technology Co., LTD
with three years of working in industry and already providing the PLE cups to big brands
such as walmart, burger king, Macdonald.
Source of image: [Link] (2022)
Reference:
1. Ahmed J. and Varshney S.K. (2011). Polylactides—Chemistry, Properties and Green
Packaging Technology: A Review. International Journal of Food properties. Retrieved by
[Link]
2. Petchwattana N. and Naknaen P. (2016). Influence of packaging material and storage
time on physical, chemical and microbiological properties of set yogurt: a comparative study
between modified biodegradable poly (lactic acid) and polypropylene. Journal of
Engineering Science and Technology. 11(10):1437 – 1449. Retrieved by
3. [Link]
%202016/11_10_6.pdf
4. [Link] (2022). [Link]
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