Abstract
Every industry, including food storage and delivery, should continue to innovate to increase efficiency, reduce risks, and improve customer experiences. The goals of this undergraduate research project are to improve the food packaging system for group serving packages, reduce waste, and improve safety. The current method for transporting all fluid-containing foods in large quantities, such as vegetables, is packaging them in metal cans. There are several different sizes of cans commonly used in the food packaging industry. The standard sizes vary between #1 and #10. For example, #2 cans, also referred to as standard soup cans, can hold approximately 20 ounces while #10 cans can hold close to 109 ounces of fluid. In this study, the focus is on improving group serving packages that currently use #10 metal cans. The main advantages of these cans are their long shelf-life, durability, simplicity, and low cost. On the other hand, the #10 cans have several drawbacks, including being heavy, bulky, and difficult to open without the proper tools. In addition, there is carbon dioxide production in every step of the food packaging and delivery process including the production of cans, processing, and even the recycling process. Inefficiencies during any of these stages result in more pollution than is necessary to transport the food. To address these issues, this study aims to develop an innovative group serving packages that can replace the #10 cans. This paper includes the design process followed to generate alternative ideas along with computational fluid dynamics analysis of the #10 metal cans.
