Bioengineers have learned to squeeze the ketchup to the last drop
American scientists have come up with what to do to plastic packaging for ketchup you can squeeze out the sauce until the end, leaving the package a single drop of this precious product. This was enough to lubricate the inner surface of the packing plant oils. About the invention described in an article published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Plastic packaging for ketchup can be found everywhere from small bags in establishments of fast food to the packaging, which we buy in the supermarket. Of these packages is virtually impossible to squeeze the sauce through. It’s not just a shame for the consumer, but also uneconomical — number absolute fit to eat the food that we have to throw away because of imperfections in the packing, calculated in tons. A group of American scientists have developed a simple and affordable technology to solve this problem.
The study authors found vegetable oils, which are compatible with various plastics.
They can be absorbed into their surface and make the packaging more slippery inside. The technology can be applied to existing plastics, for example polyethylene and polypropylene — they account for about 55% of the total turnover of plastic on the planet. Of course, it is not only about packaging for ketchup, but in General for any similar products. The technology can find application in pharmacology — the coating of these oils do not allow to develop to bacteria.
Previously, scientists from Harvard University have proposed to use for the same purpose complex polymers based on silicon or fluorine. With their help the surface of the package became porous and can hold oil. The result was indeed very slippery surface, although the packaging of ketchup, this technology is hardly suited to create the spongy polymers very expensive. New development of American scientists is not costly — selected by the authors of the oil absorbed right into the raw surface of conventional plastics.