Roles and Importance of Food Packaging

The packaging industry, perhaps, plays its most important role in the food industry. Not only packaging protects the food products, it also keeps them from spoilage and temperament. Packaging allows long term storage of food items and conveniently delivers nutritional information to consumers. The methods and processes of production might have evolved over the years but the primary reasons remain the same. However, changing the environment and circumstances require us to keep improving our packaging characteristics and properties. For instance, the evolving marketplace requires smarter and more creative packaging of not just food but all products to make sure your sales are not hindered by the efforts of your competitors.

Here are a few roles that food packaging plays in the food industry:

Protection and Preservation:

The primary need for food products is protection from outside factors that can contaminate it and change either its taste, texture, or integrity in any way. Another plus side of packaging for food products is their aid in extending the shelf life of edibles. Shelf life refers to the period that a product can spend on a shelf before wasting away. Proper packaging has helped food products stay as fresh as they have been newly produced and kept them fresh for long periods. The chemical composition of food products is protected while also retaining their crunchy/soft textures.

Food Waste Reduction:

The main causes of food waste, be it grains and others or fruits, have been cause-reported as improper protection, storage, or transportation. Packaging helps in the transportation of food and extending their usability period. A study observes a total of 2.5% wastage in the packaged food sector which is incomparable to the 50% wastage of fresh food sector, calculated in the same study. This is partially due to industries using the extra remains and leftovers for other purposes while the same ingredients may present no use when food is grown at home, hence wasted away. Therefore, packaging may prove as the future of saving the food industry from waste production through proper management.

Information and Advertisement:

Another important role of packaging in the food industry is its efficiency in delivering detailed information about the nutritional values and components of products. Few other details can be added too, for instance, the cooking instructions, net weight, and prices, etc.

The face of your food products is the packaging that holds them inside. This can be a decisive part of your business if you choose to use it wisely. Successful food companies take the packaging of products very seriously as it represents their brand and attracts the customers as well as helps them identify the brand from a cluster of others.

Traceability:

When you ship out your products from the warehouse/company to the stores, how do you keep track of the travel progress of your products? Through packaging you can track if the merchandise has reached its destinations, trace them back to yourself, and perform other quality maintenance feats. Different codes are used to carry out this task which is printed over the packaging in the shapes of bar codes and QR codes etc.

Making the food industry business more and more convenient, packaging has served numerous purposes in the convenience of the trade. Proper packaging for food has been the main focus of corporations after realizing the vitality of their performance.