Mynavi News reported on 27 September 2017 that the “complex PET bottle” developed by Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP) from their light-blocking functional barrier film has been adopted as a namazake container by the Pressurised Namazake Consortium. The bottle is produced by fusing coloured light-blocking film to a normal clear PET bottle so the entire container is covered, even the base. Although some liquids, such as sake, need protection from light, PET bottles in Japan are normally not tinted as it interferes with recycling.
However, the light-blocking film covering the complex bottle can be peeled off once the bottle is empty, allowing it to be recycled in the same way as a normal PET bottle. The functional film blocks light and oxygen and can also be printed on.
The Pressurised Namazake Consortium, represented by the Niigata University of Pharmacy and Applied Life Sciences, chose the complex bottle as the container for “Awanama” namazake. The consortium is running a series of experiments between 2016 and 2018 to see if pressurisation can enable unpasteurised sake to be stored at room temperature, in the hopes of stimulating new demand and expanding exports. Their production process involves high-pressure sterilisation, so they needed a flexible and elastic container.
Links
- Original article (Mynavi News, 27 September 2017) – click through to see pictures of the black textured bottle!
[bctt tweet=”Light-blocking PET bottle designed to protect namazake” username=”tastetrans”]