Day 2 :
Keynote Forum
Petri Vasara
Pöyry Management Consulting Oy, UK
Keynote: Consumer trends foresight becoming reality: case examples from food packaging
Time : 10:00-10:30
Biography:
Petri Vasara is the Director and Head of Global Consulting Practice in “BioFutures”. He is a member of Pöyry Management Consulting’s global management team. He is specialist in new technologies, innovations, industrial policy, foresight, new media, biobased chemicals, energy including bioenergy and biofuels, business models and environmental assessments. His areas of expertise cover innovation projects across the spectrum of technologies and industry branches, large-scale projects concerning different aspects of European and global industry policy, advanced strategic studies combining environment, economy and technology; trend and scenario analysis, environmental strategy formulation and research projects utilising mathematics and computers.
Abstract:
To stay competitive in a global market, any organisation needs to anticipate the most significant consumer trends which shape the business. Consumer trends foresight produces information which can also be applied and adapted to food packaging. Pöyry has a long history in trend foresight work within many industries using propietary tools. In our presentation, we first discuss current and emerging consumer trends relevant for food packaging based on our foresight tools. The presentation will give an comprehensive overview of the consumer trends relevant for the industry and foresight on rising themes. In the second part of the presentation, we solidify the case for the trends by presenting case examples from early adopters where the emerging trends have been met by e.g. new technology, user interfaces, sustainability measures, new bio- and nanomaterials, software solutions and new business models. As a conclusion, we present theses on what this all would mean for food packaging.
Keynote Forum
Cecilia Rojas de Gante
Tecnologico de Monterrey, México
Keynote: Development of biodegradable films based on blue corn flour with potential applications in food packaging
Time : 10:30-11:00
Biography:
Cecilia Rojas de Gante has completed her PhD from UFR-Sciences-Université of Reims-Champagne-Ardenne, France and she is qualified in Biotechnology in Transgenic Organisms from University of Salamanca, Spain. She is working as Researcher at Packaging Department in Laboratorios Nacionales de Fomento Industrial and International Coordinator of RISEA-CYTED Program (Iberoamerican Network of Food Packaging Centers). She is also working as a full Professor at Biotechnology and Food Engineering Department at Tecnológico de Monterrey, México.
Abstract:
Using cereal flours as raw materials for obtaining thermoplastics do not require extractive operations, thereby making the process more sustainable. In this study, blue corn flour films were developed. Commercially-available blue corn (Zea mays L.) kernels were obtained from Guanajato (México). The cereal grain´s total composition (excluding the pericarp) is used. The blue corn flour was obtained according to the methodology described by Rojas de Gante et al. (2010). The plasticizing effects of two different polyols (glycerol and sorbitol) on the mechanical, thermal, and microstructural properties of flour films were researched. All films were transparent, with a light blue coloration and had an average thickness of 0.199±0.027 µm. The results showed that films plasticized with sorbitol had better mechanical properties and less affinity for water than those plasticized with glycerol. The sorbitol-plasticized films were more rigid and did not lose their integrity when immersed in water. The ATR-FTIR spectra of blue corn flour plasticizer with sorbitol showed the presence of the additional band at 1745 cm-1 characteristic of the carbonyl peak, which confirms the chemical linkages between sorbitol and a polymeric matrix. The effect of the plasticizer on the glass transition temperature (Tg) was characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Tg decreased as the plasticizer content increased. Plasticized glycerol films showed lower Tg values than those with sorbitol. SEM observations showed that it was necessary to add plasticizer to maintain film integrity. The sorbitol-plasticized flour films revealed better adhesion between phases, and these films showed a compact structure.