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Orkla Group has become the first food company to announce a deal with LiquiGlide Inc., which offers a non-stick coating for the inside of bottles and other food packaging:
Mayonnaise that does not get stuck in its container is being developed by a Norwegian company. Orkla is the first food manufacturer to announce a deal with US company Liquiglide to use its non-stick coating in product packaging. [...] Liquiglide says its coating is "completely harmless" and meets safety standards because it "can be made entirely from food".
The company was founded in 2012 to sell licences for a non-stick technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A customised version of the coating is created for each product, resulting in a "permanently wet" surface inside containers that helps the product slip out. It told the BBC it was working with 30 companies, including some of the biggest consumer brands in the US.
Orkla's food division generated more than 3bn krone (£246m) of sales in its last quarter. The company said it was still deciding exactly how it would use the technology in its products.While reducing wasted product may benefit consumers, Liquiglide suggests it could also encourage shoppers to buy more frequently. The company states on its website: "Liquiglide makes dispensing product so easy that consumers actually tend to use it faster... it pushes consumers to an earlier repurchase point."
From a 2012 article:
The site claims the spray will work on glass, plastic, metal and ceramic surfaces and with any condiment — there's also a similar video showing LiquiGlide's use with mayonnaise. The LiquiGlide site says easy pours will not only prevent wasted quantities, but could also eliminate 25,000 tons of petroleum-based plastics by allowing the use of smaller caps.
While he wouldn't reveal its contents, [Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD candidate Dave] Smith told Fast Company magazine that LiquiGlide has other potential uses, such as preventing clogs in oil and gas lines. "We've patented the hell out of it," he said.
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Insightful) by frojack on Saturday July 04 2015, @05:58AM
While he wouldn't reveal its contents, [Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD candidate Dave] Smith ... "We've patented the hell out of it," he said.
And there we have the total failure of the US patent system, (and more than likely government funded research).
How can you patent something and still worrying about the revealing its contents.
Personally, I rather suspect the extra half ounce of Mayo would be cheaper, even if it did get stuck in the bottle.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 04 2015, @06:07AM
Also the total failure of the education system which grants degrees based on the expectation of future financial success. Oooo those alumni are going to make so much money. Donate! Donate! Donate!
(Score: 1) by seeprime on Saturday July 04 2015, @12:24PM
If the coating formula itself is patented the components will be listed each is a specific range. If the patent is valid there is no reason not to disclose the ingredients or the process. Failure to disclose more information reeks of marketing BS.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 04 2015, @03:55PM
Yeah, it's not only that there's no reason not to disclose a patented process... it's against the intent of patents. Patents (at least as they were intended) allow inventors to share research while protecting the profits from that research; they were supposed to alleviate the problem of trade secrets, by which inventors withheld research in order to protect the profits they made from selling materials made from secret formulae.
Chances are that either this guy hasn't patented something essential in the process, is infringing on someone else's patent somewhere along the line, or is selling snake oil.
(Score: 1) by simpgeek on Saturday July 04 2015, @04:40PM
Yeah, this seems decent for consumers but what do the producers get from this? More expensive containers and a slightly fewer sales.
This seems to fly in the face of what the food industry has worked so hard towards: developing containers that are harder and harder to scrape the remnants out of. There used to be wide mouthed glass containers, then it moved towards awkwardly shaped thin mouthed bottles that render spatulas ineffectual, now there are all kinds of opaque squeezy bottles that you don't even know how much of the product is being wasted. It's another way of disguising true cost by selling you 12oz of something that you can only realistically access 11.75 ozs of.