When easy-open isn't easy to open III - Tearing and placement

Ok so we’ve found the tab, managed to get hold of it, and started the peel. Not long until this product is satisfying our hunger cravings! But wait, the substrate has torn, the lid has sharded, bits have dropped into the product and the lid is only partially removed! You’ve got no way of restarting this opening without resorting to tools, why would an easy-open pack do this to you? This is the complaint I personally have heard the most, to the point where it’s an accepted risk in certain types of pack. This particular issue isn’t one to be solved exclusively by investing in more expensive substrates. Having a thorough working knowledge of the interaction of materials, mechanisms, and the effects of process is definitely needed to avoid having a pack which only partially opens.

The effect of sharding substrate is magnified further if your pack is supposedly recloseable. If the lid is in bits, you now have to find something suitable to accommodate the product or use it all in one!

This ties in with the last problem, which should be solvable by applying common sense, and is one of placement of the tab. Imagine if you will an example pack of sliced cooked meat, or cheese. You have managed to find the tab, hold it, start bringing the lid away in a smooth action, and leave the recloseable pack mostly sealed so as to not expose more product than necessary. The meat/cheese is layered in the wrong direction, meaning you must either pull a slice from under the rest, or fully open the pack to access a slice from the top! Who thought this was convenience food?

So the pack was the right way around in relation to the product, but there is a sticker on the top. So what? Does the sticker overlap the edge of the seal? Will it interfere with the lid removal? Is there a reclose tab part way along your tear strip which interrupts the tear? Again, thorough pack testing, a smattering of common sense, combined with a will to get it right will see you through here.

Join me again tomorrow for the exciting(!) conclusion