Nutraceutical products can encompass everything from vitamins and supplements to beauty products and herbal remedies, so how do you know what type of nutraceutical packaging is right for your product? Ascend explains different types of packaging for supplements and the latest trends in supplement packaging solutions to help you choose the right package for your Nutraceutical products.
The Importance of Nutraceutical Packaging
The nutraceutical industry is one of the fastest-growing markets around the world, thanks to the consumers’ desire to live longer, better lives. Packaging form and design can affect your product’s quality, shelf life, and attractiveness to customers. That’s why it’s important to package supplements in high-quality, safe nutraceutical packaging that keeps the product fresh and effective.
Types of Packaging for Supplements
Choosing the right type of packaging for supplements depends on the nutraceutical product. Some units are ideal for storing in bottles, while others might be suitable for blister packs.
Blister Packs
Blister packaging is a versatile packaging form suitable for a wide range of products and industries, such as pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, animal health products, medical devices, and consumable goods. The main goal of blister packs is to keep the nutraceutical product safe, and since each unit is sealed, blister packaging offers complete protection from contamination.
Along with keeping the product clean and safe, other benefits of blister packaging include:
- Light in weight
- Available in multiple variations
- Easy-to-ready doses and serving sizes
- Cost-effective
- Child-resistant
Steps for Making Blister Packs
Blister packs help protect your nutraceutical product from moisture, heat, contamination, and UV light. To create quality blister packs, a cavity or pocket is formed using either aluminum-based foil or clear PVC, depending on the technique you’re using. Once the product is inside the cavity, a second layer is added to the seal pack for protection.
Blister packaging machines typically use a three-step process to manufacture packs:
- Forming: A forming mold is used in either the thermoforming or cold forming process to create a tray with cavities or pockets that match specific product requirements.
- Sealing: During the sealing process, your product is placed inside the cavities. Then, the trays are sealed with precut pieces of your choice of lidding material using knurled or flat heat-sealing plates.
- Perforating and Cutting: Finally, the sealed trays are cut and perforated using a precision die cutter.
Bottles
Blister packaging is versatile in general, but bottles have a high-level of versatility in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries because they can be used for liquids, tablets, and powders.
Bottles can be manufactured with either glass or plastic, depending on the product. Glass is ideal for sensitive pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products and liquids that are stored for long periods. Plastic bottles are more versatile and well-suited for a variety of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, like vitamin D and ibuprofen.
Whether a bottle is manufactured with glass or plastic, the nutraceutical packaging must protect the product from damage and degradation. It’s common for bottled tablets to include a coil that keeps the product from breaking during shipping.
Steps for Bottle Filling
The bottle filling process uses several systems that work together to accurately fill and count supplements like tablets and capsules. Nutraceutical bottling machines are typically designed with air cylinders to prevent spillage and allow bottle changes before filling takes place. Thanks to sophisticated and intuitive sensors, nutraceutical bottling machines can count and fill nutraceutical products in tablet and capsule form accurately and efficiently. After the bottles are filled with the accurate number of supplements, the machine places a cap and bottle seal on the bottle to protect the product from damage and degradation.
Other Nutraceutical Packaging Considerations
While the main goal of nutraceutical packaging is to maintain the product’s form, quality, and effectiveness until it reaches the consumer, here are some other considerations to keep in mind during the supplement packaging process:
Secondary Packaging
If you use blister packaging, a cartoner machine can create secondary packaging designed to keep multiple primary blister packs in a single place. In the pharmaceutical packaging industry, folding cartons are used to transport small to large volumes of bottles or blister packs.
Pharmaceutical folding cartons include specific product features like:
- Offset and flexographic printing
- Child-resistant and senior-friendly designs
- Heat-sealed cards with dosage instructions
Supplement Packaging Labels
You should also consider supplement packaging labels for your nutraceutical products, providing as much information as possible like nutritional value and ingredients. Other details to include on your nutraceutical packaging label include:
- Expiration date
- FDA-approved certification
- Vegetarian-friendly
- Instructions for taking the supplement
Trends in Nutraceutical Packaging
Since the nutraceutical industry is one of the fastest-growing markets around the world, key players are focused on advancing their packaging techniques. Here are a few trends in nutraceutical packaging that are taking the industry by storm.
Adapting to Consumer Demands
Consumer requirements are constantly changing, so it’s important for nutraceutical packaging manufacturers to consider their demands. There’s a steady rise in consumer demand for:
- Travel-friendly supplement packaging that’s easy to store
- Single-use packaging with pre-measured dosage information
- Pre-measured blister packs with dosage information
Increasing Environmental Responsibility
The nutraceutical industry is trying to reduce its environmental impact by considering sustainable packaging options. In recent years, scientists have begun developing alternatives to plastic nutraceutical packaging using sustainable materials like corn starch gelatin, sugar cane, pectin, and wheat bran.
Preventing Counterfeiting
Counterfeiting nutraceutical packaging is growing at an alarming rate, so manufacturers are finding innovative ways to prevent counterfeits from reaching the market, such as hologram-enabled authentication, anti-diversion codes, unique fingerprints, and invisible inks to protect their products.
Improving Safety
A major trend in the market that’s improving consumer safety is using flexible packaging to protect the nutraceutical products from oxidation, moisture, dehydration, microbes, and other threats. Flexible packaging also saves space, reduces weight, and stores and transports seamlessly.
An Experienced Nutraceutical Packaging Partner
Whether your nutraceutical products are sold in bottles, blister packages, or stick packs, Ascend Packaging Systems has the equipment and expertise to meet your needs. We serve nutraceutical companies around the country because we believe businesses deserve more than just machinery that works. We believe your company deserves attention to detail, equipment that delivers consistent performance, and a nutraceutical packaging partner with years of experience. Contact us today to learn more about our supplement packaging solutions.
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