PACKAGE DESIGN FOR REFRIGERATED FOOD - THE NEED FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARYPROJECT TEAMS

Consumer demands for fresh food are increasing; combined refrigeration and packaging systems are an effective means of achieving the require d product shelf life for transportation over significant distances. Op timization of packaging systems for refrigerated food requires a multi disciplinary approach, drawing on a wide variety of skill areas. Examp les of refrigerated packaging system designs are discussed in this art icle, to show how trends in societal organization and expectations may be having a negative effect on the formation of appropriate multidisc iplinary teams for package design. Failure to form suitable teams may slow the uptake of new research results, and thus lead to less than op timal package designs.