Products

Delivery Systems

Almost all applications for edible polymers provide a form of delivery system providing a convenient, discreet method for delivering color, flavor, sweetener, nutraceutical, vitamin, medicament or other “active ingredient” to the point of use. This is true for films, small pouches, tablets, chews, gels and other fabricated polymer forms.

A typical breath freshening film strip weighs 50 mg and will contain 10-15 mg of active ingredients.  More recent innovation in film technology has created orally dissolvable films with strip weights up to 400 mg and active ingredient levels up to 150 mg per strip.

Packaging

Thin, edible films can be used to package other food ingredients. On a commercial scale, packages of vitamin blends weighing as much as one kilogram are used in the baking industry in the making of bread – the entire package is dropped into the bread dough. Consumer applications of edible packaging could provide small units of coffee, hot chocolate, oatmeal, gravy, sauces and similar products; the consumer simply adds water. However, the economics and “value proposition” have never justified this use for edible films.

For non-food applications, everyone is familiar with the use of polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) films to package liquids and powders for dishwashing and laundry detergents. The significant added cost for the unit dose packaging is justified based on convenience and on marketing buzz.

Decorative

Many applications for decorative products are satisfied with edible films. Brittle films are colored and flavored; they are broken into highly attractive flakes used to decorate frosted cakes, cookies, cereal, mint tablets, and other food products. More durable films can be die cut into familiar shapes such as hearts, stars, squares, Christmas trees and more. They are used for decorating bakery products, chewing gum, toothpaste, cupcakes and similar products.

Wound Care

Various “active ingredients” such as disinfectants, antimicrobials, clotting additives and medicaments can be dispersed in soluble films to become components of wound dressings. In addition, these materials can be absorbed into or coated on the surface of nonwoven textiles to produce unique, high performance wound dressings.

Other

Soluble polymers for food and nonfood applications can be fabricated into many other homogeneous product forms as a means of delivering “active ingredients”. JRF has broad experience with these processes to include:

• Extruded or injection molded shapes
• Gels and foam
• Tablets — slow and fast dissolving and effervescent
• Straws