•
MARKETS
Candy, bakery goods, and processed meats and cheeses offer big market for saran packaging film. Here rolls of D o w Chemical's Saran Wrap are cut to smaller size
Food for G r o w t h Already a big factor in Dow's plastic sales, the food industry offers potential for market expansion THE
CHEMICAL
INDUSTRY'S
biggest
customer is itself, but next on the list is the food industry. Dow Chemical looks to the food industry for much of the growth it expects in plastics—a substantial product group for Dow, and for the chemical industry as a whole. Packaging film and plastic containers and coatings all have large-volume food applications, Saran Wrap is Dow's big item in films. At Midland, Mich., monomer— which originates at the company's Texas Division—is converted to polymer and then extruded to form a continuous transparent film. "Several years ago food processors started using Saran Wrap extensively for packaging processed meats and cheeses," says D. L. Gibb, sales manager of Dow's plastics department. "While this u s e has continued to grow, candy packaging i s the fastest growing field today. Bakery goods, such as graham cracker packages, and premixed cookie and pie crust dough are also being wrapped in Saran Wrap. Processed meats—cooked or smoked prodocts, liver sausage, spreads, etc., have been the chief outlet in the meat industry/' 3180
C&EN
JUNE
25,
1956
Saran can also be laminated to aluminum foil, cellophane, Mylar, polyethvlene, and all types of paper to give materials having a wide variety of properties. Laminates of saran to cardboard are used extensively for cap liners. In addition, saran is an effective gas barrier and can be used for packing materials in inert gas. • Other Films. Although D o w does
not make polyethylene film, it does produce polyethylene raw nmaterial for film manufacturers. The company works closely with these manufacturers t o ensure the production of opiality film for packaging purposes. Expensive investigation also is in progress in connection with the use of other polymers and copolymers as film. D o w makes both eth^lceUulose and methvlcellulose at Midland. Ethocel (Dow ethylceilulose) i s approved as food packaging material but its use is still limited. Methocel ( D o w methylcellulose) has possibilities as a soluble film for food products. A package of dehydrated soup" wrapped i n soluble film could be reconstituted by merely dropping it into water—package and all. Or leavening agents could be added to dough mixes in the same way. Fish sticks dipped in îmethylcellulose solution can be French fried without taking v
