As demand for dietary supplements continues to surge, immune-boosting products, such as prebiotics and probiotics, are amongst the most popular.

Whilst scientific research isn’t yet completely cut-and-dry, consumers are increasingly coming to understand the connection between probiotics and immune health. Probiotics offer a natural solution to support the body’s own natural defence system by helping to ward off diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome, eczema, yeast and urinary tract infections.

The classic Greek yoghurt, packed full of those live microorganisms that are supposed to be good for your body, is now accompanied in the supermarket chillers by an ever-expanding range of probiotic drinks. Kombucha, a sweetened tea with a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts, sits alongside fermented dairy probiotics like kefirs, available as smoothies and as sparkling bacteria-rich mineral waters.

Getting these liquid probiotic products noticed by the consumer relies on eye-catching innovative packaging which must be easy-to-open and reseal whilst remaining economic to use for the beverage producer.

Solution

• Manually-operated digital torque tester
• Software-controlled tensile test stand
• Container holding fixture (custom-made to match geometry)
• Small pinch grip and assisted-pull peel table

Testing the quality of the sealed closure can be cost-effectively performed by using Digital Torque Meters for screw-cap closures, which rely on being correctly torqued to maintain a leak-free container to hold the contents fresh and ready-to-drink.

Peeling off those thermo-sealed aluminium foil neck land seal, often found on dairy-based probiotic drink lids, is the job of the tensile tester. Fixturing to hold the container secure, without deformation is essential to ensure repeatable results. If a constant peel angle is required, then an assisted-pull peel table facilitates this by moving the container horizontally at an equal rate to the vertical displacement of the grip. Choice of grip to avoid tearing the foil is also a consideration.

Mecmesin has worked with a plethora of packaging manufacturers, contract bottling fillers and beverage producers in supplying force and torque testing equipment across the world. Supported by a network of international distributors and service centres, Mecmesin is the ideal choice for quality-control equipment to test the mechanical strength of your packaging.

Test equipment

• Manually-operated digital torque tester
• MultiTest 2.5-i software-controlled tensile test stand
• Container holding fixture (custom-made to match geometry)
• Small pinch grip and assisted-pull peel table