WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- People who recall an experiment in laundry detergents decades ago -- individually packaged single-shot doses -- may experience deja vu, industry analysts say.
Previous attempts in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to encapsulate a pre-measured amount of detergent in a film that would dissolve in the wash had problems, with films interacting poorly with the detergent and causing short shelf-life.
Another attempt to achieve the same results -- essentially a giant tablet of compressed laundry powders -- often did not fully dissolve, leaving clumps of detergent clinging to clothes.
But technology behind films used to package the single doses has come a long way, says Michael McCoy with Chemical & Engineering News, the news magazine of the American Chemical Society.
Single-dose liquids packaged in polyvinyl alcohol film have caught on in Britain and France, and Procter & Gamble is reportedly ready to launch "Tide Pods" in the United Sates within a month, the magazine said.
However, since the same dose is provided regardless of the size of the wash load, experts say the jury is still out on whether consumers are ready for such products.
