New Zealand: Funding boost to improve food packaging at Massey University

Two Massey University researchers have been awarded $5.1 million in government funding to improve the way export food products are packaged. Dr Andrew East of the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health and Professor John Bronlund of the School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, will develop modelling tools to assist in the design of better packaging solutions to export food products. Dr East says cardboard boxes seem like an incredibly simple device, but they are an important tool in the supply chain in exporting food and other products. Professor Bronlund says a large percentage of what New Zealand produces gets exported in a cardboard box, so it is an important project. He says the models will allow design to be informed by a number of variables. Dr East says because of the sheer number of boxes used in exports, making just small improvements to design can lead to quite large savings. The team will work with industry on the project and hope to produce models that can be applied to multiple food products in different transport chains (News Article Massey University, 17 September 2013).
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