Tamper-Evident Packaging Saves the 80's

Tamper-evident packaging involves the use of a closure on some sort of packaging that if opened, it is clearly visible to anyone that sees.

The need and importance of such packaging came full-circle in the early 1980’s, when certain groups with the intent of using blackmail or for unknowable reasons, claimed they had tampered with jars of baby food with poisonous substances. Due to this, all supplies had to be thrown out since there was no way of knowing which jars had been tampered with. Companies responded by making jars with a button on top of their lids that popped up and made a noise indicating the package was un-tampered with since being bottled. Actions such as this were vital since tampering with products became not only an issue of social importance, but of economic significance as well. Companies experienced losses from throwing out supplies and from their tarnished image.

One such company that received a massive backlash was Tylenol. In 1982, tampering of their over-the-counter product led to the death of more than 7 people, when authorities discovered that the Tylenol each individual had taken was laced with potassium cyanide. The media labeled the incident as the TYMURS (a mix between Tylenol and murders), and a nation-wide recall of Tylenol bottles was issued and Tylenol’s market share fell from 35% to 8%.

Incidents such as this forced the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to create stricter tamper-evident packaging laws, and companies like Johnson & Johnson added triple layer tamper-evident packaging to Tylenol’s products to help them save their image. Their strategy worked and ever since this incident, the FDA has progressively created more and more laws to reinforce the protection of marketable products, creating the need for more technology to create tamper-proof closures and seals.

Posted By: Rob Goodman

Sources:

Wolnik, KA, Fricke, FL, Bonnin, E, Gaston ,CM, Satzger ,RD (March 1984). The Tylenol tampering incident - tracing the source. Analytical chemistry. 56 (3), pp. 466A–470A.

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