Industry briefs: Tyson accused of mistreating chickens

The group said that an undercover animal-rights photographer had videotaped workers mutilating birds and scalding thousands while they were conscious at the Tyson slaughterhouse. The group alsoalleges the videotape shows workers tearing heads off live chickens. "We're concerned about some of the actions shown in PETA's carefully-edited video," the company statedin response. "While the video appears to have been shot in our Heflin, Alabama, plant we don't know all of the circumstances involved. That's why we've initiated our own internal review. To the extent this review determines any deficiencies in our procedures or practices; we will immediately undertake corrective action." The company also said it disputed PETA's claims of manual decapitation of live birds and said the video may have been "carefully edited". Other industry briefs: Sealed Air has upgraded its Cryovac's rigid plastics packaging plant in Poole, UK with a US$10m investment. The moneywas used for the plant's thermoforming and printing sections. Cryovac, one of Sealed Air's brand names, has also remodelled its ridged trays in favour of a smoother, more aesthetic look.Labels have been replaced by direct printing onto lids. Cryovac said it worked with equipment partners Ulma, Mondini, Multivac and Ilapak. Scientex Packaging (Scipack) of Malaysia says it will become one of the world's biggest manufacturers of stretch film when it expands production capacity to 100,000 tonnes a year from the current 60,000tonnes. The company said it is building a new factory, which is expected to come into production next year, according to a report in The Star, a daily newspaper based in Penang. Scipack will investabout RM50mil to purchase machinery and construct a new factory building alongside its existing plant on Pulau Indah, Port Klang, the newspaper said, quoting company statements made at an annualgeneral meeting. Ulma Packaging's Pacific SSF machine is a film pre stretch system built for wrapping chicken. The machine reduces the air left in the pack beforeshrink wrapping. Nestlé will delist its shares from Euronext Paris Eurolist and the London Stock Exchange. The decision is part of a strategy to concentrate the trading of the company's shares on the SWX SwissExchange in Zurich. Nestlé's shares are available as ADRs in the US. Over the past few years, Nestlé has delisted its shares from the Tokyo, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna and Frankfurt exchanges. Sun Chemical's subsidiary AIC will launch a new thermochromic ink formulated for shrink-sleeve packaging by mid 2005. The ink is being tested in commercial pilots with three cold beverage manufacturers in Germany, the UK and the US.AIC is a Sun Chemical subsidiary. The company said the Novapak said it has purchased a new Husky HyPET 300, 48-cavity system to be installed in its Paris, Illionois plant this summer. Novapak uses a two-step molding technologyto provide custom bottles to clients. Husky's HyPET systems offer decreased energy consumption, improved repeatability, simple, easy-to-use controls and longer mold life, the company claims. "Lowoperating costs, fast cycles and high uptime make our HyPET systems the most productive in the industry," said Mike Urquhart, vice president of PET Systems at Husky. Husky Injection MoldingSystems (www.husky.ca) supplies injection molding equipment and services to the plastics industry.