What is the Importance of Food Packaging?
Food packaging is used to allow for easy transport of goods, protect the integrity of food products, and ensure separation from harmful chemicals, particles, bacteria, and pests. It also allows for food labelling and other information for consumers such as ingredients allowing you to adhere to any laws and regulations regarding labelling of for-consumption goods. Food packaging plays an important role in ensuring Food Safety.
In this article, we’ll do our best to answer common questions about food packaging to help you understand the importance of packaging in your small business.
What Material is Used for Food Packaging?
Food packaging uses a variety of different materials to protect food and provide surfaces for labelling. The types of material used in your food packaging will depend on your preferences and the food products that you’re storing. Most food packaging consists of either glass, cardboard, metal, or plastic.
What Are the Different Types of Packaging?
Different types of packaging will depend on the size and nature of your food product. For example, some vendors bulk-sell large amounts of a product using cardboard as a form of packaging. They may also have internal packaging that further protects the product. Suppliers of individual beverages typically use custom glass or plastic containers to transport and sell their products.
The possibilities are truly endless when it comes to food packaging. You can even develop packaging designs specific to your company or brand – this makes your products more noticeable to consumers and aids in marketing.
What Are the Different Types of Packaging?
Aseptic Processing
This is for foods that are sterile and are to be maintained sterile. These items include liquid eggs, milk and milk product drinks, along with other foods that are processed and need to be preserved for longer periods of time. Aseptic packages are made of a mixture of paper, polyethylene, and aluminium and contain a tight inside layer of polyethylene. Sterile pharmaceuticals are mostly packaged in plastic or glass, such as syringes and vials.
Trays
This is mostly self-explanatory. Trays are what meats, plant seeds, and drinks can be carried in. They are mostly flat with raised edges to keep the product in place, and are made of various materials such as paperboard.
Bags
Like trays, bags are a common form of food packaging. Most commonly known are bagged snacks (chips, pretzels) and fruit (apples, potatoes). “Bagging” separates the food from the environment, namely the air.
Boxes
Boxes are used for the most easy form of transportation of a food product. Most common materials found in boxes are metal, corrugated fiberboard, and wood. Frozen pizzas, cereals, and snack crackers are examples of foods packaged in boxes.
Cans
Cans are also an excellent way of preserving and transporting foods. Most cans are made of steel or other thin metal when found in stores, as well as glass jars when foods are canned in the home.
Cartons
Boxes and cartons are oftentimes interchangeable. Like boxes, cartons are also made out of corrugated fibreboard and are used for transporting food. Within the food packaging type of cartons, there are four sub-categories. The most well-known is the egg carton which is moulded to the shape of the egg to add protection while the food product is mobile. Aseptic cartons also lie in this category. Examples of this are milk, juice, and soup cartons. Another sub-category of cartons are the folding cartons, which begin as flat pieces of corrugated fibreboard and then assembled by the food manufacturer. Lastly, there are gable tops. These cartons usually hold milk or juice and require the gables at the top to be pinched then pulled in order to be opened.
Flexible packaging
Similar to bags, flexible packaging protects the food protect from the environment and create an adequate means of transporting foods. Bagged salad is a common food found in flexible packaging.
Pallets
Pallets are used for mass transportation of a product. Boxes of the product are placed and stacked on the pallet, then wrapped to secure and decrease food movement.
Wrappers
Used for individual items, wrappers provide protection between the food and the environment or the food and a person’s hands. Candy bars are most commonly thought of.
What is Primary and Secondary Packaging?
Primary food packaging is the most essential form of packaging. Primary food packaging is in direct contact with the food product – it preserves the products and ensures protection from external bacteria or particles. Secondary packaging is used for branding and as an extra measure of protection for the food product.
In many cases, food suppliers use primary packaging to package small amounts of food. Secondary packaging is then used to contain the smaller packages together. It’s a great way to bulk-sell smaller portions of food products.
Why Do We Use Food Packaging?
At the end of the day, we use food packaging to protect food and to ensure customers can identify the product. Without food packaging, you wouldn’t be able to distinguish your food products from other market competitors. You also wouldn’t be able to guarantee that your food products aren’t expired.
Food packaging is vital for protecting food against external microbes and bacteria. It can also help preserve food and ensure it doesn’t spoil. After food packaging is removed, the shelf life of a food product is greatly reduced.
All the above factors have a direct impact on the shelf life of a product. Need expert assistance on shelf life studies? Contact us for a free consultation today.
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