Novel Korean seaweed snack barrier packaging solutions

Edible seaweed is considered as a nutrient-rich superfood with abundant benefits for the human diet. As one of Korea's leading food culture companies, CJ Cheiljedang has selected the dried seaweed snack as one of our Global Products, in order to serve healthy foods to consumers around the world.

With the increased interest of K-wave, we have the vision to expand our Korean products beyond Korea, and has exported dried seaweed snacks globally since 2010. As of today, our dried seaweed snacks are sold in over 19 countries worldwide.

Our dried seaweed snack is grilled at a high temperature, exceeding 700ºC, and coated with a variety of oils to add flavour. These products are sold in carefully designed packaging to maintain the crispiness and complex fragrance of the snack. Seaweed snacks are sold in a plastic tray for product protection, along with a silica gel packet packaged in a multi-layer film. The multi-layer aluminum foil laminate film was designed to prevent oxidation and the packet protects the product from moisture absorption. The current packaging composition has two main challenges in order to make sustainable:

1. It is difficult to recycle multi-layer foil laminated films
2. Misuse of the silica gel packet

Recycling multi-layer films (including alumium foil) are challenging due to the different chemical incompatibilities of the various layers and there's no easy way of getting them apart and recovering the materials. As a result, in Korea, multi-layer films are incinerated and therefore add toxic pollutants to the environment.

Silica gel is a desiccant which prevents moisture from damaging food products. Although it is harmless, consumers, especially children, could mistakenly use the silica packet as the food or other table condiments such as sugar or salt. Additionally, in contrast to the impression of seaweed as 'superfood', the silica gel packet delivers the impression of unsafe toxic chemicals, in contact with the food products.

To improve the recyclability of the multi-layer film, we tried to replace the aluminium layer with metalized PET (OTR, WTR: nearly 1 per/standard units) as well as applied modified-atmosphere packaging. Both of our trials were unable to pass our barrier performance test and the production line speed could not satisfy our needs. Currently, there is no oxidation problem because aluminum laminated pouches and silica gel are used. However, when a film without the barrier function is used, the shelf life is less than 1 week.

We are looking for sustainable materials/processes that can eliminate the silica gel packet, increase recyclability of the multi-layer aluminum foil film, and protect the quality of the product.

CJ will be evaluating the solution providers on a case-by-case basis. Generally speaking, we will be looking at the following requirements and criteria:

Technical requirements:

• Sealing property: >2.5kgf/15mm, 50mm/min)
• Barrier property: OTR: 0.1~0.5 (cc/m2∙day∙atm), WTR: 0.1~0.5 (g/m2∙day)
• Recyclable and carbon reducing packages, or any other sustainable materials
• Line speed (120ea/min< / 1equipmet)
• Shelf life of at least 6 months (shelf-life tested on a POC case-by-case basis)
• Seaweed must maintain its crispy texture following the ASTMD4169 shipping performance test
• Material should be easily recyclable. Methods to easily separate multilayers is also acceptable
• Paper with at least 85% recyclability rate is desired

Performance Criteria:

• 20-30% increase in cost is acceptable

Specific cost targets will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific solution provider. For short term solutions; 20-30% increase in cost is acceptable.

Phase 1: PoC/Trail to be conducted (2-4 months).

Phase 2: Further commercial roll-out. Timeline to be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

CJ is one of the largest food manufacturers of seaweed products in Korea, and is willing to work with solution providers to facilitate global scale-up across all our markets. This represents a multi-million dollar opportunity. Additionally, the Global seaweed market is expected to grow by USD 11.48 billion, progressing at a CAGR of almost 12% during the forecast period (2020-2024).

(Reference: website)

1. We are willing to support a paid trial (POC) for an amount of up to S$30,000, on a case-by-case proposal
2. Project management support and access to our facilities and operations.

If the project POC is successful, further development will be discussed.


Contact / source: Enterprise Singapore Sustainability Open Innovation Challenge - Sustainability Open Innovation Challenge 2022 (innovation-challenge.sg)