This document discusses food packaging. It provides definitions of food packaging from various sources and notes its key functions: preservation, protection, convenience, communication/marketing, and facilitating handling. Various examples are given to illustrate how packaging reduces waste for foods like cucumbers, grapes, prepared salads, and bananas by extending shelf life. Concerns about packaging like deceptive packaging, overpackaging, and environmental impacts are also mentioned. The document outlines different packaging systems and common materials used like metal, glass, paper, and plastics.

1. Dr. Fazilah AriffinDr. Fazilah Ariffin
School of Industrial Technology
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
Food PACKAGINGFood PACKAGING

2. “A package must protect what it sells
and sell what it protects”
Nearly all products been
packed
Australian Institute of Packaging
“ The preparation of goods for shipment and marketing”
Robertson, G – An Introduction to packaging for Food Technologists
“Packaging is the protection of foods by means of containers designed to
prevent damage to the foods by outside influence”
Mason, R.L
“ Packaging is the protection of food from outside influence and the
preparation of these food for shipment and marketing”
Definitions

3. Industry turnover $3.2
Employment 65 000 people
Total industry figures which includes converters,
raw material suppliers and manufacturers and non
food applicants
66% of all packaging – food
Main users of food packaging
- Beer 14%
- Soft drinks 10%
- Dairy products 9%
- Fruit & vegetables 7.5%
- Meat products 4.5%
- Bakery products 3.5%
Nearly all food products end up packaged
Importance of packagingImportance of packaging

4. a. PRESERVATION
• Preservation = process & package
- Heat – cans, bottles, plastics, paper
- Dry – cans, paper, plastics, foil
- Freeze – plastics, paper, foil, cans
• Ensure quality & safety
Functions of a PackageFunctions of a Package

5. b.b. PROTECTPROTECT
i) Physical damages
- Eggs broken (60 x 106
) in China (2003)
- Fruits and vegetables
- Damaged cans
- Transport
- Compression
- Vibration
- Impact
ii) Contamination
- Dirt, dust, insects and rodents
- Microorganisms
iii) Physical changes
- H2O in/out
iv) Chemical changes
- Oxidation (H2O, light, O2, temperature)
Loss of volatile flavour
Off-flavour and taints

6. Channel Leak
- Usually occurs at package seal.
- Channel length equals seal length.
Pin Hole Leak
- Usually occurs in package wall.
- Pin hole length equals material
thickness
TWO TYPES OF LEAKS

7. c. CONVENIENCECONVENIENCE
 TV dinners/ microwave
 Ovenable trays
 Aerosol
 Portion packs (milk, tea, coffee)
 Boil in bag
 Easy open/closure (can/bottle)- ziplock
 tube
d. COMMUNICATION/MARKETING – SILENT SALESMANCOMMUNICATION/MARKETING – SILENT SALESMAN
- First interaction between consumer and product
 Product identity (logo, colour, shape)- eye catching
 Manufacturer
 Quantity
 Price
 Ingredients
 Nutritional information
 Use by date

8. e. FACILITATE HANDLING – EASY TO HANDLEFACILITATE HANDLING – EASY TO HANDLE
• Cartooning
• Shrink wrapping
• Palletizing
• Containers
• Bulk’

9. Cucumber
A cucumber is 96% water which it begins to
lose as soon as it is picked.
After 3 days, it has lost so much water becomes
dull, limp and unsalable.
Wrapping plastic film extends its shelf life to 14
days and it lasts longer at home.
f. Preventing more waste.
particularly important for food that is often eaten raw or straight from
the pack

10. Traditionally grapes were sold in loose
bunches in an open tray - consumer
selected and paid by weight at the checkout.
Some of the grapes inevitably fell off
-discarded by the shop, fell on the floor -
were potentially hazardous if slipped on.
Now sold either in bags or sealed trays- so
that the loose ones stay with the bunch and
there’s no danger of slipping.
Has reduced waste in store typically by over
20%.
Grapes

11. Prepared salads typically contain three or four varieties of
washed,cut, ready-to-eat salad leaves - a bag specially designed to
contain a MAP- keeps the leaves fresh - extends shelf life.
X bag and MAP edges and stalks quickly go brown.
If consumers bought individual lettuces to create the same mixture at
home, 11x amount of salad produce 4 X the cost and there would be
5-10X more waste.
Modified atmosphere bags make a significant contribution to reducing
food waste.
Prepared salads

12. Bananas natural packaging: their skins. That makes people
think further wrapping in a plastic bag is wasteful and
unnecessary.
large amounts of bananas over-ripen and are thrown away.
WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), reports
UK consumers throw away 1.6 million bananas a day.
Wrapping in MAP bag greatly reduces waste because the
bag:
- absorbs the ripening gas ethylene bananas give off,
extending shelf life by 2-3 days so fewer fruits become
waste.
- prevents the ethylene affecting other nearby fruit and
vegetables, stopping them ripening too quickly.
- prevents shoppers breaking bunches up, which bruises
the fruit and which leaves odd bananas that are unsold and
get wasted.
Bananas
bananas stored
for 7 days loose and
in a modified
atmosphere bag

13. • Deceptive packaging (misleading)
• Over packaging
• Environmental issues
- waste disposable
- biodegradability
- recycleability/reusable
• Cost
• Package interaction
- corrosion of tinplate
- migration of monomers (laksa,soto)
- shelf life
Things are not always
what they seem to be
Packaging concernsPackaging concerns

14. RAW MATERIALRAW MATERIAL
PRIMARYPRIMARY
(bottle)(bottle)
SECONDARYSECONDARY
(shrink wrap)(shrink wrap)
TERTIARYTERTIARY
(carton)(carton)
QUATERNARYQUATERNARY
(palletise(palletise)
Packaging systems
PENTERNARYPENTERNARY
(containerise)(containerise)

15. (a) Metal
- Tinplate
- Aluminium
(b) Glass
(c) Paper/paperboard
(d) Plastics
- Flexible films
- Semi rigid plastics
Packaging materials