Retail packaging requirement of Whole Spices

Presented byA.Saikrishna2016694602

INTRODUCTION

India is known as the “Home of Spices”. Pepper is the king of spices and cardamom is the

queen of spices. India contributes 75% of global spice production.But the small quantity of 6-7% exported because

one of the reason is improper packaging. In sub continent whole spices are bought mostly in

loose form, packaged spices are being sold in cities.

Nature and Deteriorative characteristics

o Loss of aroma and flavour

o Bleaching of colour

o Loss of free flowing nature

o Microbial spoilage

o Insect infestation

Forms of spices• Whole spices (cardamom, black pepper, clove, turmeric, ginger,

cinnamon, cassia)

• Seed spices (celery, fennel, cumin, fenugreek)

• Powdered spices(turmeric, chilies, ginger)

• Spice mixes (curry powders and masalas)

• Paste (curry paste, ginger-garlic paste)

• Concentrates (tamarind concentrate)

• Oil and oleoresins

Packaging methods Bulk packaging:

• Traditionally jute bags are used for storage of spices in ware houses.

• Capacity 10kg to 70kg.

• Jute bags provided with a loose linear bag of polyethylene.

• Double gunny bags are also used especially for whole pepper.

• The quality of jute fabric with respect to grammage and the weave.

• A twill, B twill and DW gunny are used depending upon the value of the spice, their weave clearances 1-2%, 3-5% and 4-6%.

In the traditional packages maximum loss of volatile oils up to 23% over a year.

But these have the problem of moisture ingress and sifting.

In such cases polyethylene lined jute bags or HDPE/PP woven sacks are used.

The plastic based packaging materials also used to overcome the contamination problems associated with jute.

For some spices wooden and metal containers lined with moisture barrier materials are being used.

• The latest trend is to use jumbo bags(Flexible intermediate bulk containers)(FIBCs) for exports of spices.

• These bags have capacity up to 1 tonne.

• The jumbo bags are sometimes made cloth but mainly from plastic fabric which can be laminated or provided with an inner plastic linear bag.

• The bags are provided with filling and discharge spouts and slings for hanging during loading/unloading operations.

• For designing of jumbo bags factors such as capacity, product protection requirement, bulk density of the product, filling and discharge facilities at the users end to be considered.

Intermediate packages: Some traders use institutional packs for the requirement of

institutions like railways, educational, air lines, hostels etc., for they use.

Capacities ranging from 2kg to 10kg.

The varieties of packages used include laminated flexible pouches and plastic woven sacks.

It will replace the traditional materials like tin plate containers and jute bags.

Unit or Consumer packages:

• Whole spices are packed in 50 g to 1 kg units in polyolefin pouches.

• Few brands are packed in PET/PE laminate for good printability.

The package types generally used as consumer packs are;

Glass bottles of various sizes and shapes with labels and provided with metal or plastic caps. The plastic caps have added inbuilt features of tamper evidence, dispensing, grinding etc.

Printed tinplate container with/without dispensing systems

Composite containers with dispensers.

Plastic containers with plugs and caps with dispensing and tamper evidence features.

Printed flexible pouches – pillow pouch, gusseted pouch, stand-up pouch.

Lined cartons

Flexible pouchesGlass bottles

• The printable flexible pouches have recently become very popular.• Depending upon the functional and marketing requirements, the

laminate/film can be made to serve a specific need• The printable flexible pouches are generally laminates of various

compositions. some of the commonly used laminates are Polyester/metalised polyester/LDPEBOPP/LDPEBOPP/metalised polyester/LDPEPolyester/Al foil/LDPE

• Polyester(10 or 12 microns) and BOPP based laminates are generally more popular for spice packaging.

spice Initial moisture(%)

Equilibrium relative

humidity (%)

Mould growth at moisture level (%)

Mould growth at relative humidity

(%)Black pepper 8.19 28 17.74-23.34 73 and above

White pepper 5.09 20 14.47-17.10 81 and above

Red chilies' 4.63 10 16.50-24.67 81 and above

Mace 4.33 43 9.74-13.34 81 and above

Fennel seed 8.16 50 24.33 91 and above

Ani seed 8.00 62 21.11 91 and above

Celery seed 8.96 53 25.09 91 and above

Fenugreek seed 7.73 4 23.59 91 and above

Coriander seed 6.68 13 13.57-19.19 81 and above

Cinnamon 3.24 4 16.67 91 and above

Clove 6.42 30 22.19 91 and above

Initial moisture, equilibrium relative humidity, critical moisture level and critical relative humidity At which Mould attacks on whole spices at room temperature (25-28◦c)

Source: Reports of R&D projects at CFTRI

THANK YOU