This document provides an overview of food packaging, including definitions, functions, materials used, packaging methods, laws and regulations, and risks of contamination. It discusses how packaging contains and protects food, uses materials like metal, glass, plastic and paper, and methods like aseptic packaging, vacuum packaging and modified atmosphere packaging. The document also covers packaging laws and regulations as well as types of contamination risks and how mass transfer can impact food quality through the packaging process.

1. Food Packaging
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2. Contents
• Introduction
• Definitions
• Function of packaging
• Food packaging materials
• Antimicrobial food material
• Packaging methods
• Laws and regulations of packaging
• Type of contamination
• Mass transfer and food package interaction
• Conclusion
• References
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3. Introduction
• In today’s society, packaging is pervasive and essential
• It surrounds, enhances and protects the goods we buy
• Without packaging materials handling would be a messy
• The main requirement of food packaging is to maintain the safety,
wholesomeness and quality of food
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4. Definitions of
packaging
Packaging is the science, art and
technology of enclosing or
protecting products for distribution,
storage, sale, and use
A mean of ensuring safe delivery to
the ultimate consumer in sound
condition at optimum cost
A coordinate system of preparing
goods for transport, distribution,
storage and end-use
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5. Functions of Packaging
• It contains the food product for ease and safety during transport
• Protects against spillage, evaporation or pilferage losses
• Protection from contamination
• Prevention of degradation from exposure to environmental factors
• Convenient means of dispensing
• Attraction of consumer
• Identification of manufacturer’s brand, quantity, quality and type of product
• Educate the consumer
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6. Food packaging materials
Two broad categories
 Rigid packaging materials
 Flexible packaging materials
 Rigid packaging materials
1. Metal cans
• Primarily for heat sterilized food products
• Made of tin plate, aluminum or tin free steel
• Lacquers are applied to the tin for specific applications
• Composition of lacquers depends on food stuff to be packed
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7. 2. Glass Containers
These are one of the most versatile
packages used in food packaging
Advantages:
• Chemically inert in nature
• Excellent product visibility
• Excellent barrier to solids, liquids and gases
• Molded into various shapes and sizes
• Withstand sterilization temperature
• Refillable
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8. 3. Wooden box and crates
Wooden boxes are usually:
• Solid walled
• Rectangular
• Nailed containers
• Vary in size Wooden crates are:
• Lighter in weight
• Spaces are left between board.
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9. 4. Fiber board boxes:
Used to make shipping cases exclusively
in bulk packaging
Advantages
• Versatility
• Light weight
• Disposability
• Low cost
 Major disadvantage
• Low wet strength
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10. Flexible packaging
materials
1. Aluminum foil
• Thickness is 0.025-0.15 mm
• Flexible pouches of these laminates are
used for packaging dehydrated meat
• Provides colorful and decorative printing
base in package labeling
• Excellent all barrier properties
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11. 2. Plastics
Polyethylene
• Obtained by polymerization of ethylene
• Physical properties vary to some extent
• PE is inert chemically
• Insoluble in all organic solvents up to 60 deg C
• Tasteless, odorless and nontoxic
• Very low permeability to water vapor
• Very high permeability to oxygen and carbon
dioxide
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12. Polypropylene
• Produced by polymerization of propylene
at low pressure in presence of catalysts
• High flex strength, resistance and a good
gloss surface
• Low water vapor permeability
• Good oil and grease resistance
• Poor gas barrier
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13.  PVC (polyvinyl chloride)
• Prepared by polymerization of VC in
presence of suitable catalysts
• Hard and brittle
• Used in packaging pickles and edible oils
• Clear and nontoxic
• Very low permeability to gases and water
vapors
• Used for packaging of meat, sausages and
cheese.
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14. Antimicrobial
Food Materials
AM materials can
reduce the growth rate
of microorganisms
it extend shelf life and
to maintain product
quality and safety
Food packages can be made
AM active by incorporation
and immobilization of AM
agents or by surface
modification and surface
coating
Ethanol is often used in
pharmaceutical
packaging applications
it has been shown to
prevent microbial
spoilage and extend the
shelf life of cheeses,
bread, cake and pizza
It also reduces the rate
of staling and oxidative
changes
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15. Packaging methods
• Aseptic packaging
• Vacuum packaging
• Modified atmosphere packaging
• Active packaging
• Edible packaging
• Intelligent or smart packaging
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16.  Aseptic packaging
Process in which a food product such as ultra high temperature
(UHT) milk and its package is sterilized separately and then
combined and sealed under sterilized atmosphere
 Methods
• UHT (ultra high temperature)
• HTST (high temp. short time)
• Direct heat treatment
• Indirect heat treatment
Now sterilant are used e.g.
• Hydrogen peroxide with heat or UV radiation
• Ethylene oxide with heat or gamma radiation.
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17.  Vacuum packaging
• It is a procedure in which air is
drawn out of the package prior to
sealing but no other gases are
introduced
• This technique has been used for
many years for products such as
cured meat and cheese
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18.  Modified Atmosphere
Packaging
• MAP is a procedure which involve
replacing air inside a package with a
predetermined mixture of gases prior to
sealing it
• Gases involved in MAP as commercially
applied today, are
1. Oxygen
2. Carbon dioxide
3. Nitrogen
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19.  Active packaging
• Active packaging is an innovative concept
• A mode of packaging in which the package, the
product and the environment interact
1. To prolong shelf-life
2. Enhance safety or sensory properties
3. Maintaining the quality of the product
• It allows the active preservation of food
 By modification of the environment inside the package by
removing undesired gases or by regulating the composition
of the gas
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20.  Edible packaging
• A thin layer of edible material formed
on a food as a coating or placed on or
between food components
• Natural polymers have been studied
extensively for the development of
edible packaging
• A variety of polysaccharides, proteins
and lipids have been used
 either individually or in mixtures, to produce edible
films
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21.  Intelligent or smart
packaging
• Intelligent or smart packaging is basically designed to
 monitor and communicate information about food quality
• It is essentially an integrating method that deals with
 mechanical, chemical, electrical or electronically driven functions that enhance
the usability or effectiveness of the food product in a proven way
• Some common examples of intelligent packaging are
Time– Temperature Indicators (TTI)
Ripeness Indicators
Biosensors
Radio Frequency Identification (RFI)
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22. Packaging laws and
Regulations
• Link between food packaging and
consumer protection is of high
significance
• Package is a vehicle of safety
and achieves the objective of
delivering
 safe, wholesome, nutritious
food to the consumer
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23.  The Packaging Laws and Regulations for food products are mainly covered
under:
• The Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 and the Standards of
Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977 (SWMA).
• The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 and the Prevention of Food
Adulteration
• Rules, 1955 and its first amendment, 2003 (PFA).
• The Fruit Products Order, 1955 (FPO)
• The Meat Food Products Order, 1973 (MFPO)
• The Edible Oil Packaging Order, 1998
• The Agmark Rules
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24. Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has decided to eliminate the use of all non-food
grade materials from product packaging
 The authority has already prepared the Packaging Material Regulations 2018
 General guidelines regarding food packaging materials are:
• Low density polyethylene bags with or without blended biodegradable ox
polymers must not be used for food handling, packaging and transport
• Recycled plastic, waste plastic bottles are not allowed for making food grade
plastics
• Use of newspaper, printed papers and magazines as packaging materials must
be banned
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25. • The tinplate containers used for packaging large quantity of oil and
ghee must not be reused
• Scratched PET bottles must be immediately discarded and shall not
be used further
• Aseptic packaging and multi-layered laminated carton packaging
material must use appropriate logos to ensure halal aspects
• PVC cling films are fully banned
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26. Contamination Risks in Food Packaging
Three types of contamination occur during packaging
• Physical Contamination
• Chemical Contamination
• Microbiological Contamination
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27.  Physical
Contamination
• Physical contamination occurs when actual objects
contaminate the food
• The most common physical contaminants, the so-
called Dirty Dozen, are
glass, wood, stones, metal, jewelry, filth, insulation,
bone, plastic, personal effects, bullets, and needles
• The food industry takes many precautions to
ensure that any end-product that reaches
consumers is free of physical contaminants
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28.  Chemical Contamination
• The presence of chemicals where they should not be, or the presence
of an amount that is higher than is attributed as safe, are two forms of
chemical contamination
• This form of contamination in packaging is highly dangerous, given
the fact that a high concentration of chemicals present in edible
products can possess serious health risks
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29. Conti…
Some common forms of chemical contamination are:
• Contamination by pest control products
• Contamination by chemicals used in equipment maintenance
• Contaminants from secondary packaging, warehousing and
transportation
• Uncontrolled or food-unsuitable chemical substances
intended to support the manufacturing process
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30.  Microbiological Contamination
• Microbiological contamination refers to the
non-intended introduction of microbes such as
• Bacteria, yeast, mold, fungi and virus
• Without proper precautions, this form of
contamination can occur in any stage of the
production process
• Pests can have a disastrous effect on your
product and business, and the right measures
should be taken at all times
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31. Conti…
 Examples of microbiological contamination include
• Pests by stored product insects (SPIs)
• Weeds
• Plant diseases using other organisms of fungus growth
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32. Mass transfer and food package interaction
• The quality of packaged food is directly related to the attributes of the food and
packaging material
• The quality of most packaged food deteriorates owing to mass transfer
phenomena
• Migration may also result in mass transfer of an additive from the packaging
material to the food
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34. Conti…
• Several possibilities have been reported for the interaction between foods and
packaging materials
These are the following:
Diffusion
• Migration of volatile and non-volatile compounds from packaging materials to the
packaged food
• Including unreacted monomers or additives present in the polymerized packaging
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35. Conti…
Absorption
• Sorption of components from the food or from the environment into the
packaging material
• Example: sorption of fatty matter, pigments and vitamins into the packaging
Permeation
• Permeation of volatile compounds (flavors and water vapors) from the food
through the packaging
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36. Conti…
Diffusivity
• Diffusion is quantified but by a kinetic parameter called the diffusion coefficient
or diffusivity
• The transport process slowly tries to equalize the concentrations
• Partial pressure or chemical potentials of the penetrate in the phases separated by
the membrane
Permeability
• Permeability coefficient P is the product of the diffusivity and the solubility
coefficient, i.e., P = DS
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37. Conclusion
• Packaging is an integral part of food products
• It gives food the commercial shape, color, texture, transit opportunity and
also shelf-life
• It helps to maintain the benefits of food processing after the process is
complete ,enabling food to travel to long distances
• Labeling is integral to packaging rendering all the relevant information about
the product
• Enormous technological advances are on the anvil that will make the
food packaging almost as intelligent as the consumer
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38. References
• Ketelsen, M., Janssen, M., & Hamm, U. (2020). Consumers’ response to
environmentally-friendly food packaging-A systematic review. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 254, 120123.
• Yan, M. R., Hsieh, S., & Ricacho, N. (2022). Innovative food packaging, food
quality and safety, and consumer perspectives. Processes, 10(4), 747.
• Pascall, M. A., DeAngelo, K., Richards, J., & Arensberg, M. B. (2022). Role
and Importance of Functional Food Packaging in Specialized Products for
Vulnerable Populations: Implications for Innovation and Policy Development
for Sustainability. Foods, 11(19), 3043.
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