Saran (plastic)

{{Short description|Polyethylene food wrap}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{infobox brand | name = Saran | logo = Saran (plastic) logo.png | image = | caption = | type = Plastic wrap | currentowner = S. C. Johnson & Son | origin = United States | introduced = {{Start date and age|1949}} | discontinued = | related = | markets = | previousowners = Dow Chemical Company | trademarkregistrations = | ambassadors = | tagline = }}

'''Saran''' is the trade name of a thin plastic film used for keeping food fresh by sealing. The compound polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) was discovered in 1933 by researchers from the Dow Chemical Company and registered in 1940.<ref name="hbr">{{Cite journal|url=https://hbr.org/2015/04/sc-johnsons-ceo-on-doing-the-right-thing-even-when-it-hurts-business|title = SC Johnson's CEO on Doing the Right Thing, Even when It Hurts Business|journal = Harvard Business Review|date = April 2015|last1 = Johnson|first1 = Fisk}}</ref> It was acquired by S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. in 1998 and the formulation changed to a less effective polyethylene (PE) in 2004 due to chlorine content.<ref name="racinetimes">{{Cite web|url=https://journaltimes.com/business/local/ceo-explains-why-sc-johnson-hobbled-saran-wrap/article_55000b9a-88cb-5786-a36e-3835f1d820ce.html|title = CEO explains why SC Johnson hobbled Saran Wrap| date=25 April 2015 }}</ref> As a food wrap, the principal advantages of polyvinylidene chloride, compared to other plastics, are its ability to adhere to itself and its very low permeability to water vapor, flavor and aroma molecules, and oxygen. This oxygen barrier prevents food spoilage, while the film barrier to flavor and aroma molecules helps food retain its flavor and aroma.<ref>{{cite web |title=1,1-Dichloroethylene |url=https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/6366 |website=pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |publisher=National Library of Medicine |access-date=1 July 2025}}</ref>

==History== {{see also|Polyvinylidene chloride}} thumb|Polyvinylidene chloride wrap Byproduct resin 1.1 dichloroethyl, a monomer of Polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) was discovered at Dow Chemical Company (Michigan, United States) in 1933 when a lab worker, Ralph Wiley, was having trouble washing beakers used in his process of developing a dry-cleaning product, perchloroethylene.<ref>{{cite book|author1=David John Cole|author2=Eve Browning|author3=Fred E. H. Schroeder|title=Encyclopedia of Modern Everyday Inventions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVQfBSlAZvAC&pg=PA129|access-date=5 July 2023|date=30 April 2003|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31345-5|page=129}}</ref><ref name="SARAN">{{cite web |title=Ralph Wiley, Inventor of Saran |url=https://midlandacs100.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Brinewell001.pdf |website=midlandacs100.org |publisher=Dow Chemical Company |access-date=28 June 2025}}</ref>

It was waterproof, strong and versatile; it could be rolled, forged, drawn, welded, stamped and blown. It was initially developed into a product when a division of General Motors requested a flexible film to prevent corrosion on machine guns shipped overseas.<ref name=SARAN/> It became the preferred packing material for anything that needed protection from the salt and moisture.<ref name="ABT">{{cite web |title=Charles J. Strosacker |url=https://www.strosacker.org/about/ |website=strosacker.org |publisher=Charles J. Strosacker Foundation |access-date=28 June 2025}}</ref> Dow trademarked "Saran" in 1940,<ref>{{cite web |title=Saran film |url=https://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Saran_film |website=mfa.org |publisher=Cameo |access-date=28 June 2025}}</ref> but the company did not immediately develop the product commercially.

In 1942, fused layers of original-specification PVDC were used to make woven mesh ventilating insoles for newly developed jungle or tropical combat boots made of rubber and canvas.<ref name="RIS">Risch, Erna, ''The Quartermaster Corps'', Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. of the Army (1953), pp. 108-109</ref><ref name="KEA">Kearny, Cresson H. (Maj), ''Jungle Snafus...And Remedies'', Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (1996), pp. 179-183</ref><ref name="REP">''Report on Orinoco-Casiquiare-Negro Waterway: Venezuela-Colombia-Brazil'', Volume 4, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Office of Inter-American Affairs (July 1943)</ref> These insoles were tested by experimental Army units in jungle exercises in Panama, Venezuela, and other countries, where they were found to increase the flow of dry outside air to the insole and base of the foot, reducing blisters and tropical ulcers.<ref name="KEA"/><ref name="REP"/> The PVDC ventilating mesh insole was later adopted by the United States Army for standard issue in its M-1945 and M-1966 Jungle Boots.<ref name="RIS"/><ref name="KEA"/>

In 1943, Ralph Wiley and his boss, John Reilly,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19940305&id=pDRQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yFUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4910,5139514|title=Ludington Daily News - Google News Archive Search}}</ref> both employed by Dow Chemical Company, finished the last requirements needed for the introduction of PVDC, which was formulated in 1939<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date=15 June 2015 |title=Patent 385753 Summary |url=http://brevets-patents.ic.gc.ca/opic-cipo/cpd/eng/patent/385753/summary.html |website=Canadian Patent Database |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=April 28, 2012 |archive-date=June 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618123933/http://brevets-patents.ic.gc.ca/opic-cipo/cpd/eng/patent/385753/summary.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and monofilaments extruded initially.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6619/is_n5_v48/ai_n28613402/|title=FindArticles.com - CBSi}}</ref> They also eliminated its green hue and offensive odor.

A common folk etymology holds that "saran" was formed from John Reilly's wife's and daughter's names, Sarah and Ann Reilly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question14824.html|title=What is the origin of the brand names Saran Wrap and Oral B?|at=Post by georginawl}}</ref> In fact, Dow researchers could not come up with sufficiently appealing names to market the product. Dow instead decided to use Firestone's name for plastic streetcar seats, and purchased the naming rights.<ref name=SARAN/>

The key to production of the film was credited to Wilbur Stephenson who discovered "that the size and thickness of a freshly extruded tube of Saran could be controlled to produce a uniform thickness that could be blown by a trapped air bubble into a continuous film of remarkable clarity and uniformity."<ref name=SARAN/>

After the war ended, Dow began producing and selling large rolls of the plastic to commercial businesses. Dow employees Carroll "Curly" Irons and Russ Ludwig began a side business by purchasing the spools and cutting them into 12" wide, 25' lengths and marketing it as "cling wrap" in 1947. When its popularity reached Charles J. Strosacker, he convinced them to sell their venture to Dow in 1948 and the following year, Dow marketed a retail version of the thin, clingy plastic wrap trademarked ''Saran Wrap'' that was sold in rolls and used primarily for wrapping food. It quickly became popular for preserving food items stored in the refrigerator.<ref name="SARAN"/>

After the end of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military phased out PVDC insoles in favor of Poron®, a microcellular urethane, for its jungle and combat boots.<ref name="KEA"/> However, the British Army continues to use PVDC insoles in its combat boots, primarily because of its insulating properties.<ref>Westwood, E., Smith, N., and Dyson, R., ''Comparison of the Influence of Three Types of Military Boot Insoles Upon the Force and Loading Rates Experienced In Drop Jump Landings'', Biomechanics Symposia 2001, University of San Francisco (2001), p. 30</ref>

Saran Wrap and other Dow consumer products were acquired by S. C. Johnson & Son in 1998.<ref name="INVEN">{{cite web |last1=Bellis |first1=Mary |title=The Inventor of Saran Wrap |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-pvdc-4070927 |website=thoughtco.com |publisher=Dotdash Meredith |access-date=30 June 2025}}</ref>

==Formulation change to polyethylene== Today's Saran Wrap is no longer composed of PVDC in the United States, due to cost, processing difficulties, and health and environmental concerns with halogenated materials,<ref name=racinetimes/> and in 2004<ref>{{cite web |title=Plastic Wrap 101 |url=https://uspackagingandwrapping.com/plastic-wrap-101.html |website=uspackagingandwrapping.com |publisher=U.S. Packaging & Wrapping LLC |access-date=30 June 2025}}</ref> was made from polyethylene.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-02-05|title=Saran FAQs|url=http://www.saranbrands.com/faq.asp#10|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205095936/http://www.saranbrands.com/faq.asp#10|archive-date=2020-02-05|access-date=2021-05-08|website=Plastic wrap by Saran|quote=What ingredients are in Saran Plastic Wraps? Saran Premium Wrap and our Saran Cling Plus® Wrap are made with Polyethylene.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Saran Premium Wrap|url=http://whatsinsidescjohnson.com/us/en/brands/saran/saran-premium-wrap|access-date=2021-05-08|website=SC Johnson - What's Inside|language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Saran Cling Plus® Wrap|url=http://whatsinsidescjohnson.com/us/en/brands/saran/saran-cling-plus-wrap|access-date=2021-05-08|website=SC Johnson - What's Inside|language=en-us}}</ref> However, polyethylene has a higher oxygen permeability, which in turn affects food spoilage prevention. For example, at {{cvt|23|C}} and 95% relative humidity polyvinylidene chloride has an oxygen permeability of 0.6 cm3 μm m−2 d−1 kPa−1 while low-density polyethylene under the same conditions has an oxygen permeability of 2000 cm3 μm m−2 d−1 kPa−1, or a factor of over 3,000 times more permeable.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.e-fost.org/learnpath/index.php/lp/en/lp2_content/SCI-A-3-2-4 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-09-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726010302/http://www.e-fost.org/learnpath/index.php/lp/en/lp2_content/SCI-A-3-2-4 |archive-date=2011-07-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref> For that reason, packaging for the meat industry still may use PVDC-containing films, as a barrier layer.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai407e/AI407E21.htm| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100416153629/http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai407e/AI407E21.htm| archive-date = 2010-04-16| title = PACKAGING OF FRESH AND PROCESSED MEAT}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== * {{official website|http://saranbrands.com/}} *

Category:Plastics Category:Packaging materials Category:Food preparation utensils Category:Synthetic fibers Category:Kitchenware brands Category:S. C. Johnson & Son brands Category:Dow Chemical Company Category:Brand name materials Category:Products introduced in 1933