A Question of Convenience: How the Fast-Paced Lifestyle Has Changed the Food Packaging Industry

If you’re a food entrepreneur, you may want to keep yourself up-to-date with the latest trends in the food industry, particularly those relating to packaging.

Any entrepreneur in the food business knows that food packaging can be especially challenging as more factors, such as the cleanliness and freshness of food as well as cost should be taken into consideration. Thus, it’s not just enough to invest in carton sealers and taping machines. Coming up with the perfect food packaging is a lot more challenging than that, especially now that ‘convenience foods’ such as fast food and processed foods are on the rise.

‘Convenience foods’ refer to food products that are designed to be consumed quickly. Thus, aside from the usual considerations, business owners also have to check on flexibility and the ability to stay intact during transport.

If you are looking for the best and most convenient food packaging options, here are the top technologies you can use.

Polyester and Other Types of Plastic Containers for To-Go Beverages

In the beverages department, it’s obvious that if you are aiming for convenience, you should not use glass, which is very fragile. This is how plastic bottles became popular. Over time, plastic bottles have also changed. In the past, they were mostly made using PVC or poly-vinyl chloride. This material, however, was eventually banned, and this prompted the industry to look for other alternatives, such as PET or polyester, polycarbonate, polypropylene, and polyethylene.

Due to the large role of plastic in the world of food packaging, it is hard to completely get rid of it. But since plastic is not biodegradable and with concerns regarding environment-friendliness growing, packaging manufacturers are designing plastic containers that are recyclable. Although these still use plastic, they help eliminate waste by allowing repeated uses. 

Tetra Pak and StandiPacks: On-the-Go Snack Pouches

Aside from plastic containers, you can also consider using the all-too-useful Tetra Pak. This, unfortunately, is not a reasonable option for small businesses, and using Tetra Pak requires a significant investment due to the high manufacturing costs it involves. One excellent alternative is standipack, a special food pouch which is designed to stand by itself.

You can also try using retortable pouches, which are made using no less than five layered laminates. These also have sealable polythene on the inner walls. These pouches, or tubes, are most commonly used for paste products such as mayonnaise.

Carton Packs and Trays: On-the-Go Meals

Carton packs have become the norm for to-go food products, and some of these are designed like trays so they can hold complete ready-to-eat meals.

AMPET: Temperature-Resistant To-Go Packaging

AMPET, or amorphous polyethylene terphathalate is a relatively new packaging material that boasts of excellent barrier properties. Its most significant improvement over other packaging materials is its ability to withstand sterilization temperature. This is interesting to note for entrepreneurs whose products require some heating prior to eating.

Agronit Bags: Fruits to Go

Fruits are great to-go food items as they are highly nutritious but are easier and quicker to consume. However, they are also challenging to package as they can easily lose their freshness when not properly packed. Thankfully, Agronit bags, also known as mesh bags, offer the ideal packaging material that can preserve freshness for longer periods and allows you to see through to check on the quality or ripeness of the fruits the bags contain.

If you are selling food to go, you should definitely give your packaging a lot of thought. Additional packaging features that make the consumption process more convenient can go a long way in differentiating your brand and products from competitors.  

Cold-Seal Adhesives - Ushering In A Better World for Medical and Dental Packaging

The packaging pros are continuously working on new ways to package medical and dental products, and this has been a continuing challenge for them. Although they don’t have a problem rolling out carton sealers and taping machines for the consumer industry, the unique nature of medical and dental products and applications keep the packaging design engineers on their feet. One specific area they’ve had a tough time with is finding the right material and adhesive combination.

Cold Seal Adhesives – Medical and Dental Packaging’s Best Option

But now, design engineers are veering towards cold-seal adhesives. The cold seal technology has so far been known for its low cost, high bonding rate, and low temperature – three factors that make it a promising alternative to traditional sealing technologies. But engineers also found that this new technology solves several design problems in medical and dental packaging.

Cold-seal adhesives are made using a combination of synthetic rubber and a variety of adhesive components. In the past, natural latex rubber was used for this process, but this was banned from medical packaging back in 1999 due to the allergens commonly found in natural latex.

These adhesives feature a special type of pressure-sensitive adhesive that can form a very strong bond despite requiring very slight pressure at normal room temperature. But what’s unique about them is that the base polymer they use bonds only to itself. This means they will not bond with other substrates, which eliminates several problems in storage and assembly. Thus, they can be used without liners and without causing damage to the sensitive medical and dental products they house.

Cold seal adhesives come in different types. They are currently available in paper film, transparent carrier film, transparent plastic film, and other paper and plastic combinations. They also differ based on sealing forces, which range from 0.5N/15mm to 4.0N/15mm.

Assembly and Labeling – Other Important Considerations

After the design, however, comes another challenge: assembly. This is another common challenge for the medical and dental packaging industry, where factors such as antimicrobial protection come into play. The common assembly process used in cold seal adhesive packaging is ultrasonic welding, which provides a strong effective seal without using heat. Ultrasonic welding is also a top option for antimicrobial packaging as it minimizes seal contamination, minimizes rejects, and streamlines production.

Ultrasonic welding is a process that uses high-frequency, low-amplitude vibration to heat the area between the materials that need to be joined. The process is fast, clean, and can be used even for small objects.

After assembly, important considerations have to be made when it comes to labeling medical and dental products. It is crucial that the labels be tamper-evident and pressure-sensitive.The packaging design process is challenging enough as it is, with common concerns such as production efficiency and cost effectiveness, but the stakes are even higher in the medical and dental industry. Thankfully, design engineers continue to strive for new developments that help enhance production and eliminate the common challenges in packaging.