The Columbia Press
4
February 18, 2022
Packaging: OSU team develops enviro-friendly material
Continued from Page 1
across the food supply chain.
“We thought why not turn
it into an environmentally
friendly product that meets
an industry need.”
Zhao envisions apple pom-
ace being the main ingredi-
ent for molded pulp packing
products such as take-out
containers, flower pots, bev-
erage cartons and bottles and
clamshell packaging used for
fruits and vegetables.
She is focused on apple
pomace, in part, because it’s
readily available in the Pacif-
ic Northwest. When apples
are processed for juice as
much as 75 percent of the ap-
ple goes into the juice, leav-
ing the rest as pomace.
One of the key problems to
solve in creating pomace and
paper-based packaging is im-
proving water resistance so it
can withstand high moisture,
liquid food or nonfood items
and products stored under
high humidity conditions.
Information about their re-
search was just published in
Food and Bioproducts Pro-
cessing, an industry periodi-
cal.
They used two strategies:
incorporating polymers and
compounds with charac-
teristics to improve water
resistance into the pulp for-
mulation and applying supe-
rhydrophobic coatings on the
product surface.
Zhao’s team has a long his-
tory of studying food coatings
as a barrier to water and gas-
es. The team had previously
created a two-step prepa-
ration of superhydrophobic
coating that is heat, cold and
water resistant.
The research was supported
by the Oregon Department
of Agriculture Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program. Kerr
Concentrates of Salem and
Hood River Juice Company
of Hood River provided fruit
pomace for the research.
Crab fest returns
to fairgrounds
The Astoria Warrenton
Crab, Seafood & Wine Fes-
tival returns to an in-person
celebration this year, April 22
to 24.
The event has been held vir-
tually for the past two years.
The
Astoria-Warrenton
Area Chamber of Com-
merce coordinates the event,
which features 175 vendors
of hand-crafted arts, coastal
cuisine, Oregon wine and lo-
cal brews.
The festival is a major
fundraiser for not only the
chamber, but dozens of com-
munity organizations that
participate, as well as hun-
dreds of small businesses
from our vendors and per-
formers to hotels, restaurants
and shops in the region.
“The virtual events in recent
years were as fun as we could
make them,”AWACC Execu-
tive Director David Reid said.
“However, we are excited to
be planning to return to the
festival format we have come
to love and be among our
friends – vendors, volunteers
and attendees alike.”
Vendor applications opened
in early February. Tickets will
be available online April 1.
Bench: Zappone
loved the water
Continued from Page 1
of his family and friends. …
The whole point of it is for us
to have a place to come and
have a quiet sit, a view of wa-
ter, and think about him and
how much he loved it.”
The board unanimously ap-
proved the Zappone family’s
request.
Those who request memo-
rial benches must fill out an
application, which can be
found on the city’s website,
seek approval from the parks
board, and pay for the cost of
the bench and installation.