Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (hereafter Toppan Printing; head office: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President & Representative Director: Shingo Kaneko) has developed a new grade of its susceptor heating sheet for microwave ovens. With this new grade, food can be removed from the susceptor more easily after heating. Sales will be launched in early October 2012, mainly targeting the food and distribution industries, which handle products heated in microwave ovens.

The susceptor is a sheet where a thin film of aluminum is applied to PET film by vapor deposition, and then laminated to thin paper. If a susceptor is used in a microwave oven, it absorbs microwaves and can heat the surface to around 200℃ using the principle of induction heating. The feature of this product is that it can heat food in a short time without using a flame and give the food a golden brown color and crispy texture.
With the newly developed grade, a special type of paper which is easy to separate from the food has been used instead of the thin paper, and it has become easier to remove food from the susceptor after heating, but the susceptor’s original functions of giving food a golden brown color and crispy texture are unaffected. With the development of this product, it has become possible to easily remove foods such as rice and pancakes which previously stuck to the susceptor and were difficult to remove.

This product will be displayed in the Toppan booth at Tokyo Pack 2012, which will be held at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center from Tuesday October 2 to Friday October 5, 2012.

Concept image of product using a susceptor Copyright 2012 TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD.

Background to development
Due to the increase in the number of dual-income families and single-person households, there has been growing demand for a reduction in the time and effort needed for household tasks. In 2012, the size of the market related to food preparation in microwave ovens, which is quick and simple, is around 10 billion JPY and it continues to increase.
With previous susceptors, sticky foods such as rice and foods that are liquid before cooking such as pancakes became stuck to the sheet after cooking and it was difficult to remove them.
With the newly developed grade, a special paper which is easy to separate from the food has been used instead of the thin paper, and this problem has been solved. This means that the range of foods that can be heated using the susceptor has expanded.

Features of the product
- Improvement of the ease of separation from food after heating
Instead of the thin paper that is one of the constituent parts of the susceptor, a special paper with which separation is easy has been used, meaning that the ease of removal of food after heating has been improved in comparison with previous products. This means that the susceptor can now handle a wider range of foods.
- Food preparation in a short time without using a flame
When the susceptor is used in a microwave oven, the sheet absorbs microwaves and the surface is heated to around 200℃ using the principle of induction heating. This means that food can be heated in a short time without using a flame, and it is golden brown with a crispy texture.

Price
This cost of this new susceptor will be around 10% to 20% higher than previous susceptors.

Future targets
Toppan Printing will expand sales of this product focusing on the processed food and frozen food industries that handle microwavable products, as well as distributors and microwave oven manufacturers. The company is targeting sales of 500 million JPY for this product in 2015.

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* The information in this press release is current as of the date of publication and is subject to change without notice.