"...Aseptic packaging tends to cost more, but it also allows for more delicate processing of foods than do alternative methods like canning. As a result, aseptically packaged products are especially plentiful in high-end natural and epicurean food stores like Whole Foods Market, where shelves are stacked with boxes of roasted red pepper soup, hazelnut milk and loganberry juice....
"...The technology for commercial aseptic processing has been available for a half-century and took hold in Europe in the early 1960's, but it was not approved for food in the United States until 1981. Parmalat, the Italian conglomerate now in bankruptcy and embroiled in an accounting scandal, embraced the technology early and became the world's most widely distributed brand of milk.
"The process involves sterilizing the packaging and the food product separately and then filling and sealing the containers in a sterile environment. That allows the food to retain more color, texture, taste and nutrition than it does when subjected to the more heat-intensive conventional methods used in canning and bottling.
"Manufacturers were slow to adopt aseptic technology in the United States because of high equipment costs and slow line speeds, and because the brick-shaped packaging was unfamiliar to American consumers.
"But the cost of aseptic machinery has declined significantly in the last five years, while energy costs have gone up. "It takes less energy to run an aseptic plant," said Andrew H. Jacobson, general manager of the nondairy division of the Hain Celestial Group, based in Melville, N.Y., which sells more than 100 aseptically packaged products, including Soy Dream and Rice Dream beverages and Imagine soups and broths. Manufacturers also save because they do not have to add vitamins and minerals to replace those lost in processing.
"And, of course, there is no need for refrigerated storage or refrigerated delivery trucks. "The return on capital is great if you can stand the initial investment," which is $5 million to $7 million for a basic aseptic operation, Mr. Jacobson said. The major equipment suppliers, all based outside the United States, include Tetra Pak of Sweden, Krones of Germany, Shibuya Kogyo of Japan, Procomac and SIG Simonazzi of Italy, and Stork Food and Dairy Systems, a unit of the Stork Group of the Netherlands...."
