Packaging plays the most crucial role in ensuring food safety. Food safety is highly critical to maintain the wellbeing and health of consumers. Packaging endures shipping, material handling, and storage of the packaged food. If food packaging integrity is not well maintained and tested, food safety can compromise a lot. Packaging protects the food from external elements, contamination, heat, physical damage, and much more. Thus, proper packaging keeps your food products as safe as possible. With the rise of snacking, it has become even more important for food manufacturing companies to ensure the packaging integrity of their snack packs for the sake of food safety. Let’s explore the reasons why right food packaging is crucial to ensure food safety.
Printed Food Container - 1 Colour Screen Print
1. Protects the Food from Contamination:
Locally or globally manufactured and grown food products are at risk of contamination from pollutants and bacteria. Moreover, food products that undergo shipping or storage for an extended period are even at higher risk of contamination. That’s one of the major reasons why the right packaging and testing packaging integrity is important. Food manufacturers should take quality control measures in their food packaging applications by using package leak detectors like FlexPak and seal integrity testers. Faulty packaging not only impacts the quality and integrity of the food product but also affects the health of the consumers. Therefore, packaging should completely lock out air and contaminants. Food businesses follow very strict guidelines to ensure food safety procedures are followed, and packaging plays a huge role in making sure food stays fresh.
2. Improves the Shelf Life of the Product:
The fact is that correct packaging significantly increases the shelf life of the food product. Poor and faculty packaging leads to shorter shelf life that, in turn, causes food health problems. Most people assume that preserving food products at low temperatures will improve their shelf life. However, this fact is partially correct. The food inside the package will still decompose if it is exposed to oxygen. That is why the right packaging integrity should be ensured to prevent the food’s exposure to air completely. Thus, the right packaging is key to preserving food safely for a longer time period.
3. Protects Food from Physical Damage:
The integrity of your food product can be compromised by physical damage even if it is properly sealed and protected from contaminants. That is why sturdy packaging is important to protect food products from physical damages caused during material handling, shipping, and warehousing. Boxes, strong plastic wrapping, or crates protect food products from physical damages that can be caused by shocks and traumas during transit or distribution.
4. Maintains the Freshness of the Food Items:
The innovation in food packaging technology has made it possible to send the food products grown in the West Coast to the Deep South for consumption. This means freshness and quality of the food products can be preserved by the right packaging. Thus, modern packaging technology has enabled food manufacturers and processors to supply fresh food products to the end consumers. This incredible packaging technology has not only revolutionized the way food was preserved but has also set new quality standards that consumers expect from international food manufacturers. No matter which part of the world a food product is sourced from, consumers can enjoy fresh food if it is preserved in the right packaging under the right circumstances.
5. Helps Prevent Tampering:
In order to ensure food safety, the packaging should be made tamper-resistant. The tampered food product is unsafe for health. Packaging can be utilized to prevent the tampering issue. This means food packaging should include tamper indications. The food manufacturers should use tamper-evident labels on the packaging that indicate if the package has tampered with. This includes printed features, special packaging membranes, breakaway closures, and other graphics and product features that change due to tampering. Thus, with the right food packaging, deliberate tampering can be indicated and prevented.
No matter which part of the world a food product is sourced from, consumers can enjoy fresh food if it is preserved in the right packaging under the right circumstances. Inecta has developed a food and beverage ERP software that can help track all parts of the supply chain to keep food safe and fresh for consumers.
