Food packaging: Right round

The HQC rounded-front scoop provides complete evacuation of granular products from flexible and rounded-bottom rigid packaging. Source: HQC Incorporated.

Closure and custom-molded products manufacturer HQC Inc. has released a new eight-ounce, rounded-front scoop designed for granular and powdered products packaged in rounded-bottom rigid containers or a bag/pouch flexible packaging format.

Squared-front scoops create a void when scraping the radius of a container, so product cannot be completely removed. In flexible packaging, squared-front scoops not only can make it harder to get to all the contents, they can potentially puncture the packaging material.

“HQC was presented with a problem that may seem like a small inconvenience, but it actually can be a deterrent to a product being used in its entirety,” says Blair Pasternak, HQC president. “The current square-front scoop has an outdated look, does not capture the entire product and is not conducive to being used in insertion automation.”

Unlike scoops that are square or have a squared-off front, the new HQC eight-ounce rounded-front scoop can be set flush with and scraped along the contour of the bottom of a rigid container, allowing all the powder to be scooped out. The rounded design also makes it less likely the scoop will puncture any flexible packaging bag or pouch when it’s used to access product.

The HQC eight-ounce scoop is available in stock colors, but can be customized in solid or tinted colors and clarified material. HQC’s current lead time for the scoop is two to four weeks. HQC products are manufactured in the US in a plant audited by NSF International to SQF Level 3 standards, as well as other regulatory institutions.

For more information:

Blair Pasternak, HQC Incorporated, 630-820-5550,
sales@hqcinc.com, www.hqcinc.com.

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Debra Schug was Editor-in-Chief of Food Engineering. She began her media career over a decade ago writing and producing broadcast news for both television and radio at the local and national level. She spent many years as the managing editor for two trade magazines in the oil industry and the research editor for an annual petroleum report. She has a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Iowa State University.