We hope you got the new year off to a good start and wish you a profitable and very successful 2016. We also hope you continue to express a great interest in the topics in our newsletter and look forward to some promising collaboration on all sides.

NEWS +++ Liquid gold, the nectar of the gods ... there are many descriptions for honey, most of them very exaggerated, all of them positive. After all, honey is regarded as one of the purest foods around. Unlike sugar, it has the advantage that it already contains many substances which help the human body to digest the sugar it contains. It helps to heal wounds, has an antibacterial effect, protects the body’s cells and renews them. Inflamed gums can be alleviated by honey while it can also relieve the symptoms of colds by clearing the sinuses and reducing coughs. Honey is regarded as a beauty and anti-aging product and, last not least, it simply tastes good.

In Germany, around 1.2 kilos of honey are consumed per capita each year. Courtesy of a million hives. For approx. 300 grams of honey, each individual bee is obliged to leave the hive around 20,000 times, flying from blossom to blossom to collect nectar. After visiting approx. 1,500 blossoms, it returns heavily-laden with a sweet load to the hive where it passes its treasure on to a colleague, the so-called house bee. As it sets off on its homeward flight, the nectar begins its exciting transformation into honey as the bee enriches it with valuable substances such as enzymes. Inside the hive, the bees extract more water from the nectar and store the honey drop by drop in the honeycomb which they cover with a fine layer of wax. And then the beekeeper uses centrifuges to eject the honey, before filtering it, passing it through a sieve and pouring it into jars.

A product as pure as this requires equally pure packaging. Choosing glass as a container is a good solution as glass is regarded as healthy and safe packaging, considering the fact that it is impermeable and practically eliminates the possibility of interaction with the contents. It satisfies all requirements which packaging should focus on, i.e. maintaining both the intrinsic quality of food and extrinsic demands on quality. Glass therefore complies with one of the more pressing tasks of guaranteeing both shelf life and toxicological safety by minimizing interactions between the packaging material and the food contained therein. For some years now, this has also applied for the glass closure, the metal lid, by preventing migration from the lid sealants into the contents. What was already solved decades ago for the beverages industry is also possible for wide-mouth closures and therefore for glass jars. Using TPE technology originally developed by ACTEGA DS for crown corks and aluminum closures, it has been possible to close an essential gap in the elimination of PVC from packaging coming into contact with food.

In the form of PROVALIN®, the market offers a closure sealant compound free of PVC and phthalates which complies with all EU guidelines and guarantees maximum food safety. The various models mean that there are suitable solutions available for all food packaged in jars and bottles – including for honey.

News +++ One company relying on this closure solution is represented by Europe’s largest importer of organic honey, Walter Lang GmbH, whose roots extend back to 1895 when honey was first imported to its location in Bremen. Walter Lang GmbH evolved from Walter Lang Honigimport GmbH in 2008 and specializes in the production, manufacture and distribution of organic honey.

As an organic pioneer, Walter Lang delivered his first home-centrifuged honey to regional organic stores more than 40 years ago and was involved in developing the guidelines governing ecological beekeeping more than 30 years ago. Today, its employees pass on their experience concerning sustainable, biological and resource-conserving production to beekeepers in the honey-producing countries on each continent of the globe. Of the eight million kilos of honey which are on average imported every year, around 85 percent is accounted for by organic honey. Additionally, the “Walter Lang-Spezialitätenhonige” brand featuring 35 selected blends – from cherry blossom honey from the Kassel Hills to Maya honey from Yucatan in Mexico – has been sold since 2013.

NEWS +++ Before the honey can be poured into jars, it requires careful preparation, i.e. diligent purifying, sieving and creaming. Purification without compromising quality is of particular importance during the processing stage. The honey enters a heat chamber from where it runs through a spiral, is briefly heated, filtered and cooled. To ensure that the honey does not incur any damage and all valuable components are retained as best as possible, each work stage is monitored: comprehensive monitoring of the temperature, checking the pressure in the pipes during conveying, adjusting the rotating speed of the agitator in the tank.

The stringent guidelines outlined by the IFS ensure a high standard of quality assurance. In the company's own honey laboratory, qualities are tested and documented in collaboration with Germany's only institute for honey analysis. On average, 200 individual samples are examined every day.

After processing, the honey is then ready for bottling. This is also carried out carefully and gently in a modern filler which slowly doses the honey into the jars. In its state-of-the-art production facilities, Walter Lang GmbH avails of one of the most modern filling and packaging plants in Europe. Technology can be adapted to individual customer demands. The jars are then sealed and labeled.

What is important at this point is that the closures only contain sealants which are free of PVC and phthalates, i.e. PROVALIN®, which is a sealant compound based on thermoplastic elastomers. This also goes well with the company's philosophy in which major attempts are always made to trigger as little environmental impact as possible during manufacture, packaging and storage of the products.

Karin Lang, Dipl-Ing. Food technology, QMB, Walter Lang GmbH and Sonnentracht GmbH, Bremen:

“We have been filling organic honey specialties into glass jars for the organic food trade since 1974. As an organic pioneer, we have always attached maximum importance to the selection of blends and their unique flavor as well as the naturalness of our honey varieties. But we regard the suitability and handling features of packaging material to be of equal importance to product quality. In the Blue Seal lid, we are now using a migration-free compound for our twist-off lids enabling us to promote our products as having “PVC-free packaging”. This is a decisive improvement for environmentally-conscious consumers concerned with sustainability. Meanwhile, we now fill more than 24 million jars and PET bottles in the private label sector each year enabling us to satisfy our customers’ high demands. We are delighted with this innovative development by Actega which – like us – has its headquarters in the beautiful Hanseatic city of Bremen thereby making an active contribution toward a clean environment.”

Furthermore consistent investments are made in modern, energy-efficient technology such as conversion from oil to gas, economical cooling units for production as well as plans for a thermal power station with combined heat and power. Measures with which the energy footprint is significantly improved.

Coupled with the fact that the TPE technology used for manufacturing PROVALIN® is much more gentle on resources than that used for PVC sealant compounds. Where in the past, liquid PVC compounds were injected into the closure caps before being hardened at high temperatures, TPE technology involves liquefying the granulate by means of extrusion and then applying it to the lids. So it only needs to be formed but no longer hardened. This saves energy, reduces the CO2 footprint and lowers production costs. Less energy is required for processing granulate than plastisols. Working with granulate is cleaner and incurs less waste. Accordingly, the use of this method largely complies with the requirements of sustainable production.

Fair information

Walter Lang GmbH at the Biofach, Nuremberg, Germany, 2016 February 10th - 13th:

Stand 7-556

Producer of the PVC-free compound

ACTEGA DS GmbH, Straubinger Str. 12, 28219 Bremen, Germany

+49 421 390020, provalin.ACTEGA.DS@ALTANA.com

Producer of the BPA- and Melamine-free varnish

ACTEGA Rhenania GmbH, Rhenaniastraße 29-37, 41516 Grevenbroich, Germany

+49 2181 2940, info.ACTEGA.Rhenania@altana.com