BASF will produce plastic packaging incorporating an antimicrobial agent, the company said this week.

Processors and producers are continuously looking for ways to help maintain the quality and extend the shelf life of food products that they prepare and hold. Microbial growth can affect food quality and safety and can damage firms' reputation and profits due to costly recalls.

Germany-based BASF said it would develop a line of styrene copolymers using silver-based antimicrobial ingredients from Agion Technologies. The packaging material is being provided under a multi-year agreement between the two companies.

The two companies will focus first on the European market, but they plan a global rollout soon.

BASF said its the antimicrobial ingredient would first be incorporated in its Luran S product line.

"Our partnership with Agion gives us the ability to address the increasing demand from our customers for antimicrobial solutions," said Peter Wolf, head of BASF's global innovation management team. "The unique product attributes of Agion's natural, silver-based technology coupled with its expertise in partnering with leading organisations to introduce new products from development to commercialisation make them the ideal partner."

Agion's antimicrobial reduces microbial growth on the surface of packaging when it is incorporated in plastics, the companies claimed.

"The technology provides continuous protection from microbes by releasing silver ions to the surface of the product at a slow and steady rate," the two companies said in a statement. "This allows for the long-lasting protection of the product against the damaging effects of microbial growth."

Agion's antimicrobial ingredient has been approved for food and water contact by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Food Safety Agency.

Agion's product is also a notified existing substance under the EU's directive European Biocidal Products Directive (BPD). It is listed for use as an indirect food contact substance with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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