Food Magazine May 2015 | Page 8

PRODUCTION
PACKAGING IS A necessary and vital part of the food and beverage industry , but up to now it ’ s always had a certain limitation : the inevitable product loss that occurs when the condiment inside is determined to stick to the sides of the container , never to reach the plate . It ’ s a dilemma we know all too well – the image of banging on the bottom of an inverted bottle , attempting to coax out just enough ketchup for your French fries , isn ’ t just familiar , it ’ s iconic .
But a new product breakthrough , LiquiGlide , might just render that situation a thing of the past . Developed by MIT professor Kripa Varanasi and graduate student Dave Smith , LiquiGlide is a nonstick “ liquid impregnated ” coating designed to keep surfaces permanently slick and slippery . According to Smith , the concept is a lot like oil on the surface of a frying pan .
“ That ’ s the same kind of slipperiness that our coating provides — only we can make that effect permanent whereas oil in a frying pan wears off after a time ,” says Smith , sitting down with Food Digital to explain the process . “ The way that we make that permanent is by trapping the liquid
in sort of a textured surface , which acts like a thin sponge on the surface . The liquid will get trapped in place through capillary forces , and the result of that is an extremely slippery surface , like oil on a frying pan that lasts much , much , much longer .”
LiquiGlide was originally conceived as a solution for the gas and oil industry — but a few formula tweaks to suit different materials opens the product up as a viable solution for a world of industries , and the
8 May 2015