Food Packaging

The diversified agro-Climatic Condition of India has led to the production of large variety of agro & horticultural produce with surplus quantity resulting into the creation of great opportunity for the production of processed food products and also to store the foods for longer duration so that these products can be made available during off season. In this context, Packaging plays an important role for enhancement of Shelf-life of fresh as well as processed food products. The mega trends of socio-economic Changes like Globalization, liberalization, Urbanization, growth of literacy, rise in consumerism, more nuclear family with dual income etc. have resulted into the increase of high demand for packaged foods. Packaging provides many functions like Protection, Preservation, presentation, Safety aspects, Storage, distribution, logistics and supply Chain, information through proper labelling, branding and market promotion. The concept of packaging was conceptualized by primitive humans since ancient times with the usages of available resources like animal skin, dry leaves etc. for wrapping and storage purposes. Today, Packaging is considered as the combination of Science, art and technology. In 21st Century, the evolution of modern packaging is witnessed with the development of innovative packaging materials, packaging formats and high speed machinery to cater the demand of modern consumers and also to meet the market requirement.

Over a period of time, a number of flexible packaging materials are developed with high degree of functional properties to meet the requirement of food products in terms of longer shelf life, compatibility, high mechanical strength to avoid any kind of damages of packages and foods due to mechanical hazards which might occur during handling, storage and transportation. Flexible packaging materials are non-rigid in nature. The important flexible packaging materials like paper and paper board, plastic films and laminates, aluminium foil, Plastic Woven sack, Jute Bag, Leno bag  etc. which are mainly used for packaging of fresh and processed food products. This chapter has covered the raw materials used & its manufacturing process of individual types of flexible packaging materials, types of materials, their properties and different applications in food packaging.

As per dictionary meaning, the word “semi-rigid” means the materials which are stiff and moderately rigid but not flexible in nature in terms of its hardness property of the materials. These materials are having adequate mechanical strength and other functional properties. These materials can be made either from cellulosic materials like paperboard or the different packaging formats made from paperboard like folding cartons, lined cartons, paper-based laminated composite carton, bag in box, composite containers, Multilayered Squeezable tube and Thermoformed Containers etc. The different types of semi-rigid packaging materials are developed to meet the requirement of various types of food products for enhancement of shelf-life and also to withstand all kinds of Chemical, mechanical and Biological hazards which might occur during handling, storage and transportation resulting into the damage of packages as well as products. In order to understand in depth about different types of semi-rigid packaging materials, the types materials, its manufacturing process, properties and its applications for fresh and processed food products are discussed.

Rigid packaging materials are normally stiff and rigid in nature. These materials are having heavy weight, more hardness and high mechanical strength as compared to Flexible Packaging materials. Considering the requirement of fresh and processed food products, a number of rigid packaging materials have been developed. However, the important rigid materials like Metal Containers, Glass Containers and Plastic containers are mostly used for Processed Food products. In addition, a number of transport containers namely Plastic Crates, Wooden Boxes and Corrugated fiber board boxes which are also rigid in nature and thus, covered under Rigid packaging materials. This Chapter has covered in details about the types of rigid packaging materials, its manufacturing process, Properties and application for fresh and processed food products.

All kinds of horticultural produces, mainly fresh fruits and vegetables, are considered to be more nutritious foods as these foods are having high protein content, minerals and vitamins. Fresh produces are having living tissues, high in water content and diverse in terms of morphology, composition and philosophy. The respiration process continued even after harvesting of fresh fruits and vegetables. Due to this fact, a number of innovative packaging technologies are developed to enhance the shelf life of fresh produces. The different techniques and technologies used for fresh produces, mainly fruits and vegetables are covered in this chapter.

This Chapter has covered about different category of Processed food products and the factors responsible for the spoilage of food products. The enhancement of shelf-life is considered to be the vital requirement of processed food products. Over a period of time, a number of Innovative Packaging technologies are developed which are mainly employed for processed food products. The detailed about the principles of different types of technologies, packaging material used and its applications are described in this Chapter.

Unlike what it was once described as, modern packaging is no longer a Silent Salesman. In-fact it aims to reach out by design to make an emotive connect with our head and heart. In addition to the roles of carrying, protecting and displaying the product an element of style is added by careful design to create a desirable customer experience when the pack is seen at the First Moment of Truth (FMOT). By exploiting insights into human psychology as well as learning from Nature, packaging design helps to create more persuasive packaging and deliver on the brand promise to make products successful. For these reasons, packaging design has become highly specialised and process driven. A creative use of materials, technology, 3D and graphic design with printing and labelling is critical for winning customer loyalty.

Quality is normally understood as an index or measurement. It is the degree of excellence, a degree of conformation to standard. It is also the distinctive inherent features, property and virtue. Quality Control or Quality evaluation is the operational techniques to fulfill the requirement of quality. Testing is considered to be as a tool for the quality evaluation through the measurement of different qualitative parameters with respect to  physical, Chemical, mechanical and optical properties of packaging materials. Accordingly, this Chapter has covered Physical Tests, Chemical tests, Mechanical Test and Optical tests of important packaging materials like Paper and paper board. Corrugated fiber board boxes, Plastic films and Laminates, Plastic Containers, Metal Containers, Glass Containers, Composite Containers, Plastic Squeezable tubes and plastic pouches which are normally used for food products.

In the last 5 years or so, the two words that have attracted the most attention in world-wide industry and economic planning are “sustainable packaging”. Almost everybody is trying to prove to the world what a good citizen he or she is by targeting sustainable development as the most important objective in everything that they do; this has now become the primary goal for almost all corporate activity or economic planning.

When the case of packaging material is considered for Life Cycle Analysis, the basic purpose is to compare different products with same application to find out the most suitable packaging material with minimum adversity to environment. When two different materials are compared, the cost and energy requirement in preparation and extraction of raw materials, manufacturing the article, transportation, the efficiency as packaging material, whether it requires any extra safety component or not, its storage and distribution and finally disposal and recycling are considered. Life Cycle analysis using “Cradle to Grave” approach is the only way to assess and compare the benefits for packaging material by identifying inputs and outputs in the different phases of the life cycle analysis which involves two stages: The first stage consists of an process that accounts and produces an inventory of all the inputs and outputs of energy, material and emission in the life cycle of a product or package. The evaluation of the way the environment gets affected by inventory is discussed in the second. The basis of this study has been considered as milk packaging, lube-oil packaging and bulk packaging of commodities in keeping with the view of the consumption in order of magnitude.