As economies globalize all over the world, the quality standards associated with consumer products, especially with respect to safety and health, are rapidly conforming to international cutting-edge standards 一次性餐具. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the packaging industry, especially in packaging for eatable consumer products (or food packaging).
The types of food packaging with respect to chemical and material composition and characteristics, appearance and sizes of packaged containers vary with the requirements not only from one type of food product to another but with respect to climate and logistic considerations as well. The following is a discussion of the food packaging trends in the modern day with respect to such requirements and the advancements that have made them possible. This article contains pieces of information gleaned from several packaging publications.
MAP is a modern packaging technique that involves modifying the atmospheric composition within packages for food and drugs. This is normally done by manipulating the gasses and the packaging conditions, including temperature and pressure within packages to increase the enclosed products resistance to decay and the incubation of aerobic organisms (germs). This is normally accomplished in most food packages by reducing the amount of oxygen within these packages and replacing with appropriate gasses which are either inert or which help halt the development of germs and the onset of decay; the oxygen is normally extracted and replaced by the inert nitrogen or the anti bacterial CO2 (carbon dioxide gasses). This technique has lately become the standard for food packaging for the FMCG industry all over the world.
CAS (controlled atmospheric storage) has been used to provide food products for retail in foreign ports since the 1930’s. The development began with the introduction of high levels of CO2 in cargo holding cells, especially in ships, and has since evolved into MAP. MAP involves packaging food products in airtight containers within atmospherically controlled environments, with the appropriate temperature, pressure and mixture of gasses. There are two major types of MAP packaging used for respiring and non-respiring products.
MAP is generally used for food products that are raw or have received minimal processing before being packed. Examples of these food types are processed fruits and vegetables, meats, seafood, bakery or dairy products and cooked or cured meats. MAP is beneficial especially in case of meat products, often improving shelf life to over a week. Non-respiring products are products which must be packaged within airtight and inert packages, and are therefore packed in high barrier material (low permeability to gas and moisture) with carbon dioxide or nitrogen. Respiring products such as fruits and vegetables require interaction with the packaging material, and therefore, require packaging material with specifically adapted permeability so that it correlates with the products respiration, increasing freshness and therefore shelf life.
Did you know that the state of California has recently outlawed plastic bags at the grocery store? And I assume that this new law will take effect sometime in the future. Those who make the plastic bags, and those the plastic industry think this is terrible. And they have several reasons. One is that some plastic bags are made from corn products, and in the refining process of making ethanol, and BioDiesel, there are leftover molecules which can be put together to make polymer chains, and yes grocery store plastic bags.
In fact, there is an entire industry set up now that takes recycled plastic bags and makes them into other things. They are easy to recycle, and process. If we all decide not to use plastic bags, or there’s a law against it, there will be leftover chemicals at the refineries for petroleum, and ethanol products, with nowhere to go. That’s not good either, and we have an entire industry, with some brilliant entrepreneurs, innovators, and scientists – we have finally figured it all out, and now California has changed the rules.
Still, many Americans now are taking their own shopping bags with them to the grocery store and filling them up, some grocery stores, and I know my grocery store does give you points, or discounts on future purchases if you bring your own bags in. That’s environmentally friendly for sure, and that’s a way to participate in green living. There was also a very interesting article in the newspaper not too long ago by Anjeli Cordeiro titled “Food Packaging Goes Green, ” and it discussed many companies which use Bioplastics.
Several of these companies are now the FDA has approved and many of the personal care products, food products, and even plastic containers are made with Bioplastics. I think you should read that article and consider how the free market and free-enterprise system has already solved the problem. Now the state of California is changing all the rules, and in doing so they are taking away jobs from startup companies that are not only solving the problems of mankind, they’re helping us make better choices when we purchase products.
I bet you’ve even bought products, which were wrapped in plastic, and this plastic is made from corn, and you didn’t even know it – and yes, you already put these in the recycling bin, which is good, they will be recycled, but isn’t it wonderful that sometimes you can participate in green living without even knowing about it. Maybe we need to stop and explain that to some of the environmentalists, as they lobby our legislators and government to make stricter and stricter laws, when they don’t understand. Please consider all this.
