Food Packaging Materials and its Notable Types

Basically, to manage the food supply in a safe direction, it’s prominent to carry out the advances in food processing and food packaging. Both this process, executes the equivalent role in preservation and transportation of food and beverage products, until into the customer’s hand. Packaging of food products need to be evaluated, ample of characteristics from the dimensions, weight, texture, material, packaging style, up to material category. 

Types of food packaging materials

Material performs the significant contribution in packaging segment with different texture and manufacturing design. However, it can be classified into few types, with certain coexisting features, pros and cons. Let’s take a look of types of food packaging materials.

• Glass

• Metals 

• Paper

• Plastics 

Glass food packaging 

The glass materials are manufactured by the process of heating a mixture of silica (enacts like glass), sodium carbonate (melting agent), limestone and alumina (stabilizer) to extremely high temperatures till turning into thick liquid mass, then decanted into moulds. At times, cullet the recycled broken glass will be employed, and comprised of 60% of raw materials. 

Commonly, glass containers, bottles, jars can be able to pack solid and liquid food. However, it is frequently utilized for packaging of jams, pickles, beverages.

Metal food packaging

Metals, are the most adaptable form of packaging contrast to the others. Usually, five types of metals used in packaging, that are aluminium, foils, laminates, tinplate, tin-free steel. Canned texture can be largely used for packaging of cold beverages like soft drinks, beer. This packaging extends the shelf span of food product.

Plastic food packaging 

Plastics are manufactured by the process of condensation and polymerization (polycondensation), or by the addition and polymerization (polyaddition) of the monomer units. Two main class of plastics existed in the plastic food packaging are thermosets, thermoplastics.

The polyaddition of monomer ethylene results in the polyethylene, that produces the two simplest and cheapest plastic forms are polyethylene – high density and low density. Mostly, plastic food packaging is used to pack the fresh food and beverages, sweets and food with medium shelf life.

Paper and paperboard food packaging

Paper and paperboard are thin sheet materials produced from the interweaved network of fibres of cellulose, that has been obtained from wood using sulphate and sulphite. These fibres are pulverized and bleached, then treated with certain chemicals like slimicides and consolidating agents to form the paper product. 

This can be utilized for both a base and secondary packaging material. Mostly, it’s used to pack food at stalls like pizza and to box and package pre-packaged food items like packed snacks, perishables and liquids.

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