It is well known that limiting the exposure of oxygen-sensitive products to oxygen maintains and enhances the quality and shelf-life of the product. For instance, by limiting the oxygen transmission from the environment into an oxygen sensitive food item or pharmaceutical product in a packaging system, the quality of the product can be maintained and spoilage can be avoided. In addition, high oxygen barrier packaging also keeps the product in inventory longer, thereby reducing the costs incurred from waste and restocking.
Synthetic polymeric materials are widely used in the manufacturing of a variety of end-use articles ranging from medical devices to food containers. Within the packaging industry, there are a number of unique applications that ideally require strong and substantially clear polymers that can function as a barrier to an outside environment. One such application is the manufacture of containers and films for use with the packaging of perishable food products. Fresh-cut foods respire or maintain an influx of oxygen and an efflux of carbon dioxide. Different types of fresh foods respire at different rates, thus requiring different oxygen levels to maintain freshness, or to slow the aging process.
Continuing, the atmosphere within a packaging container can be determined by the barrier properties of the container material, such as for example, permeability. “Barrier properties”, therefore, can refer to the permeability of a container material to gases and liquids such as, for example, oxygen and water. Such packaging containers strike a balance between the rates of gas and liquid exchange necessary to maintain food and pharmaceutical freshness with that necessary to minimize detrimental processes such as microbial growth. From a commercial vantage point, it is often necessary to balance the mechanical properties of the polymeric material used to construct the packaging product with the need for functionality. Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop a polymeric material for food and pharmaceutical packaging applications having improved barrier properties.