Hormel Health Labs, a Savannah, GA, subsidiary of Hormel Foods Corp., is launching its healthy shot™ high-protein healthcare beverage in a 2.5-oz PET bottle produced at the Nicholasville, KY, facility of Amcor PET Packaging (). Amcor says Hormel is breaking new ground with the “introduction of the industry’s smallest hot-fill PET container.”
Hormel Health Labs focuses primarily on specialty products for hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centers. One of the primary concerns in nursing homes is weight loss among aging patients who do not consume enough protein. Many patients usually drink only half or less of an 8-oz milkshake-type product that contains 9 grams of protein. With the new Amcor PET bottle, Hormel can pack as much protein as possible into a concentrated package that is sized right for patient consumption. The high-powered, fruit-flavored drink packs12 grams of protein into those 2.5 oz, and no less than 24 grams into its double-protein formulation.
Amcor adapted its proprietary hot-fill technology, used primarily for large containers, to create a relatively simple cylindrically shaped bottle to meet the needs of the specialty healthcare beverage market.
“Perhaps the most difficult part was getting heat-set properties into a bottle that size,” explains Kirk Maki, Amcor project engineer. “Vacuum control in hot filling and cooling is the other critical issue, which also required considerable manipulation.”
The closure itself is a standard design, borrowed from beverage packaging for this healthcare application. Compared with other bottles on the market today, which have a smaller 20-mm finish, the larger 28-mm finish on this bottle makes it easier for patients to drink from.
Because this hot-fill bottle is so small compared to others on the market, it takes custom equipment to fill. Not many fillers are currently set up to do it because there hasn’t been a demand for hot-fill in bottles this size. “We know it’s a little difficult to maintain the heat when filling small containers while also maintaining throughput,” says Chris Curtis, Amcor PET account manager, North East. “Most of the hot-fill in the industry has been with much larger containers.”
