Media Release
October 17 2003
ARC grant funds smart packaging to secure quality food export market
Australia’s fresh food export market is set to expand following an Australian Research Council Linkage grant won by UniSA researchers to develop a unique packaging material with high oxygen and moisture barrier properties that can be individually tailored to extend the shelf life of different food products.
Polymer scientists Dr Naba Dutta and Dr Namita Choudhury from UniSA’s Ian Wark Research Institute will conduct the research in partnership with Poly Products Company Pty Ltd, which has invested more than $2 million in specialised machinery and ancillary equipment to produce the packaging film in a continuous process called co-extrusion.
A controlled oxygen barrier is an extremely important requirement for extending the shelf life of various food products because they must be kept in a certain atmosphere to protect and preserve them for transport and efficient delivery, according to Dr Choudhury.
"To be commercially viable, barrier materials must not only perform but be cost effective. The plastic packaging industry globally is now working towards this challenge of developing functional packaging for particular types of food.
"The aim of our project is to develop a product with controlled oxygen and moisture barrier properties for cost effective applications using a unique nanotechnology composite approach (combining nanoparticles and polymer).
"Our choice of polymer material is also unique. No one has used this type of material and because we have extensive knowledge and expertise on polymer and nanocomposites materials within the IWRI, we know that our material will be able to perform. With our formulation, we will be able to vary the moisture and oxygen content and the barrier properties. It will be based on cheaper raw material," Dr Choudhury said.
The polymer research project is one of two ARC Linkage grants worth $347,000 awarded to the University. A second grant will fund research into a tailored mechanical system that will significantly improve the productivity and quality of medical products of microscopic dimensions such as glass pipettes.
UniSA was also successful in winning ten ARC Discovery grants worth $2.06 million and funding for Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities totalling $696,093.
ARC Discovery and Linkage grants totalling $3.1 million will support UniSA’s research activities over the next three years.
Professor Ian Davey, UniSA’s Pro Vice Chancellor Research and International, was pleased to see some significant ARC grants for research in social sciences. These include a study looking at whether social mix, planned for public housing estates to reduce the concentration of disadvantaged households, will result in benefits for low income residents in those places. Also funded is the first major study of the work place culture in Australian engineering, where the findings will provide a basis for change in engineering industry, policy and education settings that could address the profession’s difficulty in attracting and retaining women engineers.
Media contact
Geraldine Hinter (08) 8302 0963 or 0417 861832