The cooling cubes contain more than 90 percent water and other components to retain and stabilize the structure. They are soft to the touch like a gelatin dessert and change color depending on temperature.

More information: Jiahan Zou et al, Sustainable and Reusable Gelatin-Based Hydrogel "Jelly Ice Cubes" as Food Coolant. II: Ideal Freeze–Thaw Conditions, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c06309

The companies actively participating in the MedAccred Plastics Task Group, which developed the audit criteria for injection molding, reads like a who's who of medical manufacturing: Abbott, Baxter Healthcare, Becton, Dickinson & Co., Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Philips and Stryker on the OEM side; in addition to BMP Medical and MTD Micro Molding, GW Plastics, Mack Molding and Plastikos were among the suppliers taking part. The plastics injection molding audit criteria draw from established industry standards as well as manufacturing best practices.

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Ed Kangas, BMP Vice President, Sales and Marketing, came away impressed with the process. "It was an open, very collaborative discussion," he told PlasticsToday, adding that it involved a "deep, three-day dive into our processes that provided us with an opportunity to implement internal improvements." As the first injection molder to achieve MedAccred accreditation, pending approval, "it's a differentiating factor and gives smaller suppliers like us greater visibility."

MedAccred has established rigorous audit criteria that incorporate industry standards along with specific OEM and contract manufacturer (CM) requirements. The program replaces some of the routine critical process supplier audits conducted by many OEMs and CMs with a single, robust audit. It is administered by Performance Review Institute (PRI), a not-for-profit organization that also supports the Nadcap accreditation program for the aerospace industry. MedAccred is modeled after this successful 25-year-old program.

The researchers began working on the coolant cubes after Wang saw the amount of ice used at fish-processing plants and the cross-contamination that meltwater could spread among products or down the drain.

Editor in chief of PlasticsToday since 2015, Norbert Sparrow has more than 30 years of editorial experience in business-to-business media. He studied journalism at the Centre Universitaire d'Etudes du Journalisme in Strasbourg, France, where he earned a master's degree.

By providing OEMs with oversight and verification of compliance to critical manufacturing process requirements, MedAccred enhances patient safety, says the organization. Suppliers benefit by improving their operations based on audit criteria while reducing the number of on-site customer audits. They can also benefit from exposure to existing and new customers, which, in the long term, strengthens relationships and creates new opportunities.

MedAccred accreditation is not the same as ISO certification, John Hastings of Johnson & Johnson told PlasticsToday at MD&M West in Anaheim, CA, last week. "ISO is an inch deep and a mile wide, whereas a MedAccred audit is an inch wide and a mile deep for the critical process," he explained. "Our audit criteria are developed for specific processes collaboratively with OEMs and relevant CMs."

"You can use it for 13 hours for cooling, collect it, rinse it with water and put it in the freezer to freeze again for the next use," Sun added.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a new type of cooling cube that could revolutionize how food is kept cold and shipped fresh without relying on ice or traditional cooling packs.

"We want to make sure this is sustainable," said Luxin Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology.

These reusable cubes can be designed or cut to any shape and size needed, said Jiahan Zou, a Ph.D. graduate student who has been working on the project the past two years.

"When ice melts, it's not reusable," said Gang Sun, a professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. "We thought we could make a so-called solid ice to serve as a cooling medium and be reusable."

The application could potentially reduce water consumption in the food supply chain and food waste by controlling microbial contaminations. The research was published in the American Chemical Society's journal, Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

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Thus far, MedAccred has established audit systems in the following areas: Cable and wire harness; heat treating; plastics; printed circuit board assemblies; sterilization; and welding. Injection molding is the initial subcategory within the plastics sector. MTD Micro Molding (Charlton, MA) is the first micro injection mold company to pilot the audit criteria, and the aforementioned BMP Medical is the first injection molding firm to complete a pilot audit against the criteria.

If all goes according to plan, BMP Medical (Gardner, MA) can claim a world first. It will soon be the first injection molding company to achieve accreditation from MedAccred (Warrendale, PA), a new medtech-industry-managed program that provides supply chain oversight via standardized audit criteria.

The jelly ice cubes offer an alternative to traditional ice and could potentially reduce water consumption and environmental impact. They also offer stable temperatures to reduce food spoilage and could be ideal for meal prep companies, shipping businesses and food producers who need to keep items cold.

Early tests have shown the cubes can withstand up to 22 pounds without losing form. They can be reused a dozen times—just a quick wash with water or diluted bleach—and then disposed of in the trash or with yard waste.

Sun also lamented mold found in the plastic ice packs used with school lunches for kids and frequently found in shipping packages.

The idea for MedAccred originated with Johnson & Johnson's DePuy Synthes group in Ireland, where a director of supplier quality, familiar with Nadcap, wondered why a similar accreditation program was not available for the medtech industry. That was in 2010, and an industry roundtable in 2012 officially kicked off the program. The MedAccred Plastics Task Group was formed about one year ago, added Hastings.

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