BERICAP introduces O2S® oxygen barrier technologies for its range of 38 mm closures for still soft drinks or how to improve shelf life of barrier packages.

The juice market has changed during those last years, especially in Europe, with the introduction on large scale in this market of single serve PET bottles with oxygen barrier performances in replacement of metal cans or glass packaging.

Together with its partners of the PET industry, BERICAP actively contributed to the creation of such all-plastic packaging, highly performing and compatible with the specific packaging requirements of juices with an active barrier, oxygen scavenging variant of its bore seal 38 mm closure.

This one-piece closure combines the enhanced seal performances of its high performing seal system and the properties of its integrated oxygen scavenger (O2S®) bound inside the bore seal of the closure, according to an exclusive process.

Promising developments of O2S® process for still soft drinks

This technology is specially proposed to the fast growing markets of fruit juices, RTD teas (especially green teas), energy and functional drinks and all other still soft drinks, sensitive to oxygen, to address specific concerns of those markets : trends towards small single serve containers with unfavourable surface to volume ratio, then with more exchange of gases between beverage and the outside of the bottle; increased consumer demands for food and beverage freshness; more anti-oxidant preservative free beverages; aseptic filling, etc…

Here again, PET container and closure industries have been heavily solicited to provide technical solutions for increased protection of those beverages and longer shelf-life compatible with the constraints of mass distribution and discounters.

BERICAP contributed to such trends with the development of speciality closures for 38mm 2- and 3-start PET neck finishes, which are mostly used in still soft drinks. These closures are not only designed for aseptic filling conditions (easiness and efficiency of decontamination, no retention of decontamination liquid and reliable application even on high speed filling lines) but also feature reinforced tightness against ingress of micro-organisms, anti-sabotage, gas and aroma barrier, and integrated oxygen scavenger option, according to the exclusive BERICAP O2S® process.

This closure is now part of an optimised MINUTE MAID single serve 330 ml bottle using BERICAP O2S® closure as perfect partner in the barrier and shelf life battle of (in this case) a monolayer oxygen scavenger blend bottle.

After the addition of such closure, BERICAP has now the largest range of 38mm closures for aseptic filling, one-piece or with aluminium foil (CHS for conduction heat seal or IHS for induction heat seal) or with foam liner, as well as sport closures, P&P or flip top, and some variants for hot filling (HF).

With those developments, BERICAP shows again its willingness to keep ahead of competition with advanced closure technologies to satisfy the new needs of its customers and, in the present case, those of the beer and of still soft drink industries.