Packaging food today does more than protect the product. The most essential function of food packaging, right from its initial stages through transport and storage, to the point where it reaches the consumer, is to make sure that everything arrives in good condition. However, design and materials also influence buying decisions as more consumers want to eat food with a sustainable package.
Most foods can’t be shipped, stored, or sold in an unpackaged form. Protective wrapping prevents the food from being damaged or ruined by light, oxygen and humidity. A longer shelf life is an important contribution towards reducing food waste.
Globally, more than 930 million tons of food is thrown away each year across the value chain. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has just released this report. Food Waste in Switzerland even claims that a third to a quarter of all food wastes or is lost on its way to our plates. The UN Agenda 2030 aims at reducing the global food waste by half, and will be implemented in 2030. Food that isn’t consumed accounts for eight to ten per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Food Waste Index Report 2021. The packaging industry can reduce this wastefulness.
Following the “Sustainable Development Goals” of the United Nations is also the SAVE FOOD Initiative, which was founded in 2011 by Messe Düsseldorf, the FAO and interpack. They aim to raise public awareness about the problem and develop counterstrategies and solutions with industry, politics and society. Innovations from the packaging sector are particularly important. SAVE FOOD’s current research project focuses on how food waste and by-products can be used to make biodegradable packaging.
Protecting the environment and ensuring sustainability
Packaging is more than just for shelf life and freshness. Customers are demanding more environmentally friendly packaging. The packaging is meant to be recyclable and made from sustainable materials while providing maximum protection for perishable items. This means food packaging is an extremely high-tech product. For example, the company allvac Folien GmbH has developed an eleven-layer polyamide/polythethylene food wrap which is fully recyclable and for this has been awarded certification valid throughout the EU by the cyclos-HTP institute. “Offering no eco-friendly packaging solutions is no longer an option. The pressure on food manufacturers simply is too great.” says Andreas S. Gasse, CEO of allvac Folien GmbH.
The best materials for packaging food with aroma are polyamide films that have a bi-axial orientation. This is used, among other things, to wrap oily or fatty foods and freeze foods. This film is in high demand because of its special properties. There’s also a growing demand for suitable film stretching lines. One manufacturer of such lines, interpack exhibitor Brückner Maschinenbau, also focuses on greater efficiency while producing the films. From a mechanical engineering perspective, this is achieved through less use of resources, less consumption of energy and a “zero waste” policy in film manufacture. Brückner has now developed matching concepts for factory lines.
Food contact recycling
Greiner Packaging uses PET recyclates up to 100 per cent in its packaging and hopes to show the world that such packaging is possible. Future PET will be able to use heat resistant material, such as rPETHTS. The packaging manufacturer has also developed a self-separating cardboard-plastic-combination which is supposed to make recycling easier. The cardboard wrap stabilizes plastic cups with thin walls and separates from the cup during waste collection. Cardboard and plastic are therefore easily separated into the right flow during the initial separation, before packaging reaches the recycling plants.
The long-established PET recycling process provides materials for recyclating new food packaging. Other plastics can also be recycled to make packaging for food. BASF has new opportunities to develop sustainable packaging for fresh goods, such as with the use of the chemically recyclable polyamide Ultramid. The chemical group is exploring new opportunities to use plastic waste in its “ChemCycling” project and is further developing pyrolysis technology which is used to gain new resources from plastic waste which would otherwise be energetically recycled y or sent to a landfill.
“A thermochemical process lets our partners gain recycled raw materials from old plastics, which are then fed into the BASF system. You can track raw materials to products by looking at their mass balances, such as Ultramid Ccycled. This allows for the replacement of fossil resources, and it is an important step toward a circular economy. As chemically recycled plastics are equal to new products with regard to their quality and safety, the range of sustainable plastics which can be used to package fresh goods is increasing”, says Dominik Winter, Vice President of the European polyamide business at BASF.
Packaging automation
Machine manufacturers and packaging companies have long been adapting to these new needs. Syntegon machines that are used to package food have recently been able also to process sustainable materials. As an option to traditional plastic trays, carton erectors also make paper biscuit trays. Both paper and plastic-based products can be processed by vertical tubular bag machine. For example, they produce pillow bags for frozen products and stand-up pouches for dry food.
Flexibility is a key requirement for producers and marketers as the shift to e-foods in retail and year-round demand for fresh foods places high demands on flexibility. The Schubert Group offers a robot-based solution with its robotic packaging machines. They were created by the company and allow automation that optimizes packaging process harmonization. These robots take fresh goods such as sausages or baked goods straight from production, and then put them into primary packaging. This could be trays or flat bowls, tubular bags, or trays. Schubert’s 3D printer Partbox is able to produce special tools that are tailored to each product. Customers can now make parts on-site, so they are available in a matter of minutes. Customers can quickly replace defective parts and create new products by themselves. Schubert supplies also the matching printing material, plastic Partbox Black. It is compliant with food hygiene standards and offers good mechanical properties as well as high temperature resistance.
Printing on compostable films without marking
Experts from Domino Laser Academy Hamburg are looking for the best solutions to code or mark food packaging. “We spend a lot of time analysing new packaging materials. Due to the new European legal requirements for recycled plastics, around 95 percent of the food packaging samples we need to test are recycled or recyclable plastics. These substrates can be coded using our fibre or uv lasers. But, we believe that there will be more demand in the next few years for compostable options. We therefore want to be prepared to offer our customers relevant advice and solutions for these new materials,” says Stefan Stadler, team leader at the Domino Laser Academy.
This is why the laser team tested NatureFlex, a compostable film product by Futamura to determine their suitability for laser code. Without affecting the quality of the material or changing its chemical composition, the laser creates a clear, white code on the film. This method of printing-free code does not require any additional material on top or below the compostable substrate. It should be easier to obtain certification for final packaging.
There is no hygiene option
Food industry packaging manufacturers must adhere to strict hygiene regulations. However, hygiene goes beyond just disinfecting and cleaning. For many purposes, such as in the food industry, compressed air is utilized. It must not come into contact with food, or be used to clean. SMC Deutschland developed a bacteria filter that meets all the hygiene standards of the food industry. With a filter performance of 99.99 percent, it makes sure that international food standards can be met. It can be used to blow nitrogen into packaging, to stop food from oxidizing, and to keep it open during filling.
Visitors are most likely to visit interpack because of its food sector. The breadth and depth of their presentations show this. At the world’s leading trade fair for Processing & Packaging in Düsseldorf from 4 to 10 May 2023, visitors can discover which sustainable solutions for the future the food industry has ready. Halls 5, 6, and 11 are the main areas where you will find the food industry. More information about interpack can be found at www.interpack.com
(Our correspondents Shardul Sharma [email protected] and Naresh Khanna [email protected] will cover Metpack in Essen and Interpack in Dusseldorf this May for www.indifoodbev.com, www.healthtekpak.com and www.packagingsouthasia.com.)