PACKAGING

PACKAGING
Types of Food Packaging
• Packaging materials come in different shapes with various functions relative to their properties. It is
essential for the packaging material to have a balance between its shape and its function.
The packaging material can be:

 Rigid: bottles, trays, cans, jars, and caps.
 Flexible: bags, cling wraps, bubble wraps, shrink wraps, squeezable tubes, foam trays, stand-up
packets, and vacuum bags.
 or semi-flexible: caps and closures, boxes, and tetra packs.
Food packaging types differ in various ways, such as weight, size, durability, and barrier properties .
Food Packaging Materials:
 Selecting the suitable material for packaging a certain type of food depends:
 Functions include shielding the foods against moisture, temperature variations, oxygen,
light, and biological microorganisms.
 Damage protection, permeability, food identification, and chemical and optical properties.
 Conventional food packaging materials currently used vary between metals, paper, glass,
and plastics.
Metals:
 There are various forms of metal food packaging, such as cans, tubes,
containers, films, caps and closures.
 Cans are generally made of aluminium or steel, and they are the most
commonly used metal packages of food and beverages.
 They are highly recyclable and are usually coated with a layer of organic
material to prevent any interaction between the food and the metal.
Aluminium:
 Aluminium is generally used for beverage cans, foils, tubes, trays, pouches, and coffee capsules.
 It has good resistance to temperature fluctuations and acts as an excellent gas barrier, which
extends the food’s shelf-life.
 It is relatively harmless , lightweight, and can be recycled indefinitely.
 Aluminium can be used in rigid, flexible, and semi-flexible packaging.
 It helps maintain the freshness and aroma of the foods, and is good for protection from
radiation, oxygen, moisture, oils, and microorganisms .
Steel:
 Steel is used for cans, containers, caps, and closures.
 Can be recycled open-endedly while retaining its quality.
 It has good ductility and formability, and is convenient for sterile products for it can
undergo heat treatment and hermetic sealing.
 Common applications of tinplate include drink cans, processed foods, and powdered
foods.
Paper:
Paper and paperboard are mostly used for packaging dry foods. They are commonly used in
corrugated boxes, milk cartons, paper plates and cups, bags and sacks, and wrapping paper.
Paper is used for temporary food containment and protection due to its high permeability and
inability to be sealed with heat.
When used as primary packaging, waxes, resins, and lacquers are used as coatings and laminates
to enhance the paper’s protective and functional properties.
Kraft paper is the strongest form of paper, and is used in packaging flour, sugar, and dried fruits.
Paperboard is a relatively thicker and heavier material than paper. It is widely used as secondary
packaging that is not in direct contact with the food.
Types of paperboard vary between white board, solid board, chipboard, and fibreboard. White
board is the only paperboard advised for primary packaging.
Glass:
 Glass is another permanent packaging material that has been used for millennia.
 Glass is well-known for being amid the most reliable and least toxic materials for packaging foods and
drinks.
 Its advantages include imperviousness, inertness, strength, hygiene, resistance to tampering, quality
colour, design, decoration potential, transparency, chemical propriety, microwaveability, and heat
treatability .
 There are two types of glass packaging most widely used for foods and drinks: narrow-neck bottles and
wide-opening jars and pots.
 Glass bottles are commonly used for alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, and potable water.
 Foods packed in glass containers range from coffee, to dairy products, spices, spreads, syrups, processed
vegetables and fruits, and meat and fish products .
Plastics:
 Plastics are the most common and most wide-ranging materials used for food packaging. Some of
their widespread uses are bottles, trays, bags, foils, cups, pots, pouches, and bowls. The convenience
and widespread use of plastic in food packaging is owed to its low cost, ease of processability,
formability, chemical resistance, lightweight, and a variety of physical properties . However, plastic
suffers from permeability to gas, vapour, and light.
 Plastics can be classified into two main categories: thermosets and thermoplastics.
 Despite the health and safety concerns regarding residual components from plastic, plastic use
continues to grow compared to the aforementioned conventional materials because of its
inexpensiveness, thermosealability, microwaveability, and ease of fabrication into countless shapes
and sizes.
Future of Food Packaging Materials
 Innovations and advancements in material science have given food packaging a positive future in terms of efficiency
and environmental impacts.
 Another technology in packaging systems is active packaging, which is the integration of additives
 With the packages to improve food shelf-life and quality.
 Nanotechnology, as well, has been able to penetrate the food packaging industry. It helps augment the thermal and
mechanical properties of food packages.
 Although the effect of nanoparticles on human health is yet to be well understood, nanotechnology displays a
promising future.
 When it comes to waste management, Biodegradable polymers have risen as alternatives to traditional plastics in
food packaging.

PACKAGING

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PACKAGING

Types of Food Packaging

The packaging material can be:

 It is relatively harmless , lightweight, and can be recycled indefinitely.

 Aluminium can be used in rigid, flexible, and semi-flexible packaging.

 Steel is used for cans, containers, caps, and closures.

 Can be recycled open-endedly while retaining its quality.

 With the packages to improve food shelf-life and quality.

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