1. Introduction to Food Packaging Materials

Basically, Packaging Science is Materials Science. As a consequence, the right choice of a package largely depends on the performance of the packaging materials used. These performances may be expressed in a chemical and physical way. On the other hand, a technical description in terms of material chemistry can be useful. This book introduces the chemical peculiarities of four different material categories: plastics, cellulosic, ceramic and metals. Nevertheless, a large variability of different items are obtained in these four categories by means of even small chemical changes. Moreover, important changes in the final properties and performances of food packaging materials can be obtained by means of chemical modifications. Finally, the current situation of food packaging materials is briefly described in terms of global amount of unit sales worldwide.