Recycled Plastics Utilization in Packaging Converting Processes: A Semi‐Systematic Review

This review assesses applications of nano‐materials in food packaging. The review also discusses the features and uses of major nano‐materials that are commonly used in food and food products packaging. Migration research, consumer safety issues, and public health concerns are also discussed. Nano‐materials particularly nanoparticles due to their mechanical, optical, catalytic, and antimicrobial properties could play a major role in food packaging. Nano‐materials like silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and nanoclay are currently major nano‐enabled food and food products packaging materials available in the market. Nano‐zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium are also available in the market but to a less extent. Nano‐materials could be as antimicrobial to control microbial growth as well as improving barrier properties of food packages to increase the shelf life and freshness of packaged food products. However, despite the advantages of nano‐materials in food packaging, there is growing concern about the safety and potential risks due to migration of nano‐particles from food and food products contact materials to fish and fish products. In conclusion, for breakthrough in the use of nano‐materials in food and food products packaging, consumer acceptance challenges, technologies of manufacturing, costs and the regulation need to be given right perspective.Practical ApplicationIn recent time, researches have directed at improving knowledge of composition, processing and packaging technologies of food and food products by both developed and developing countries. Food and food products are bio‐systems that undergo deterioration immediately after harvesting or slaughtering as the case may be. This requires special handling to prevent food spoilage through contamination. Quality of food and food products can only be maintained when processed and packaged in appropriate packaging materials. The use of nano‐materials in food and food products packaging is promising area to improve packaging functionality, however, the knowledge about particle migration and toxicity remains limited. It is therefore necessary that food and food products should be handled with utmost care by using good and appropriate packaging materials that are non‐toxic, safe and environmental friendly.

Tracing the origin of VOCs in post-consumer plastic film bales

Labels and packaging are important components in marketing food products. However, awareness among Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is still minimal regarding the importance of using labels in food packaging. Apart from that, the type of packaging used to package food products is often wrong so that food products become easily damaged. Therefore, outreach activities were carried out on food labels and packaging for Samiler cracker MSME activists in Kedungudi Village. The aim of this activity is to provide understanding to Samiler cracker MSME activists in Kedungudi Village about the importance of food labels in food product packaging and the use of appropriate types of packaging. The method used in this activity is a presentation method by the speaker demonstrating the packaging of Samiler crackers fordistribution process. The results of this outreach activity were that the activities carried out went well, the audience's understanding increased about the importance of using food labels and appropriate packaging for food products, and the packaging design was carried out in accordance with the regulations that have been set regarding food labels for Samiler cracker products.

Issues associated with waste disposal all over the world, including in Russia, determine the urgency in applying biopolymers as environmentally-friendly packaging materials. Nowadays, the development of technologies and formulations of biodegradable films based on domestic ingredients for application in the packaging of food and/or pharmaceutical products is of a great relevance. Biodegradable polymers based on natural polysaccharides possess certain advantages over plastics, especially in terms of their complete and rapid degradability under natural and/or specially-created conditions. When developing the technology for producing packaging materials, including food production, special attention is paid to the characteristics of the resulting packaging, which is responsible for preserving the initial qualities of both the packaging and the product for a certain time, at least until delivered to the consumer. Therefore, low oxygen and water vapour permeability manifests itself as a special property of biodegradable films, having particular importance for food packaging applications. Formulations of biodegradable film samples obtained from compositions of natural polysaccharides (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, carrageenan and agar-agar) are proposed and studies on their main properties (degree of biodegradation, gas permeability, water absorption, chemical resistance, degradation and toxicological properties) carried out. Based on the results of the study, compositions appropriate for application as the basis for environmentally friendly packaging materials for food and pharmaceutical products were selected. The maximum stability of the studied films (i.e., the period of their complete dissolution) in concentrated hydrochloric, sulphuric and acetic acids was determined. The considered samples of biodegradable films were proved to cause no toxic effects on natural ecosystems. The authors declare no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this article.

The successful employment of food packaging can greatly improve product safety and quality, making the area a key concern to the food processing industry. Emerging food packaging technologies reviews advances in packaging materials, the design and implementation of smart packaging techniques, and developments in response to growing concerns about packaging sustainability. Part one of Emerging food packaging technologies focuses on developments in active packaging, reviewing controlled release packaging, active antimicrobials and nanocomposites in packaging, and edible chitosan coatings. Part two goes on to consider intelligent packaging and how advances in the consumer/packaging interface can improve food safety and quality. Developments in packaging material are analysed in part three, with nanocomposites, emerging coating technologies, light-protective and non-thermal process packaging discussed, alongside a consideration of the safety of plastics as food packaging materials. Finally, part four explores the use of eco-design, life cycle assessment, and the utilisation of bio-based polymers in the production of smarter, environmentally-compatible packaging. With its distinguished editors and international team of expert contributors, Emerging food packaging technologies is an indispensable reference work for all those responsible for the design, production and use of food and beverage packaging, as well as a key source for researchers in this area. Reviews advances in packaging materials, the design and implementation of smart packaging techniques, and developments in response to growing concerns about packaging sustainability Considers intelligent packaging and how advances in the consumer/packaging interface can improve food safety and quality Examines developments in packaging materials, nanocomposites, emerging coating technologies, light-protective and non-thermal process packaging and the safety of plastics as food packaging materials

Potential of biobased materials for food packaging

Those stimuli that have a shiny/glossy visual appearance are typically rated as both attractive and attention capturing. Indeed, for millennia, shiny precious metals and glossy lacquerware have been used to enhance the presentation, and thus the perception, of food and drink. As such, one might have expected that adding a shiny/glossy appearance/finish to the outer packaging of food and beverage products would also be desirable. However, the latest research appears to show that many consumers have internalised an association between glossy packaging and greasy (or unhealthy) food products, while matte packaging tends to be associated with those foods that are more natural instead. Furthermore, it turns out that many consumers do not necessarily appreciate the attempt to capture their attention that glossy packaging so often affords. At the same time, it is important to recognise that somewhat different associations may apply in the case of inner versus outer food and beverage packaging. Shiny metallic (inner) packaging may well prime (rightly or wrongly) concerns about sustainability amongst consumers. Given the research that has been published in recent years, food and beverage manufacturers/marketers should think very carefully about whether or not to introduce such shiny/glossy finishes to their packaging.

Introduction. The wide distribution of aluminum foil in the consumer market and its active use in the home as a packaging material determine this study’s relevance. Because health risks associated with aluminum’s chronic consumption are still poorly understood, aluminum intake with food is potentially unsafe for health. In this regard, it is relevant to investigate the conformity of methods and food simulators to the tasks of testing aluminum foil for its safe use as food packaging. The aim of the study is to improve methodological approaches to the selection of food simulators for testing aluminum foil as packaging for food products. Material and methods. The study approach and critical analysis of the domestic and foreign regulatory framework and relevant scientific sources were applied to methodological approaches to study the level of aluminum content in food products and food simulators when testing aluminum foil for food packaging. The adequacy of the application of the methods of quantitative chemical analysis of the aluminum content in food simulators and food products was evaluated in testing household foil, indicated in various regulatory and methodological documents. An experiment was carried out to study the levels of aluminum in simulating media and directly in food. Results. The regulated food simulators do not fully consider the features of the use of aluminum foil as food packaging, for example, the modes of using aluminum foil at elevated temperatures. Conclusion. The current regulatory and methodological framework requires improvement. It is advisable to develop a special method for testing aluminum foil for household purposes with a description of temperature and time modes and conditions for simulating the process of baking food products.

The increasing amount of plastic waste generated each year, fuelled by the growing consumption of single-use plastics in food packaging applications, threatens the integrity of our ecosystems while creating an unprecedented waste management crisis. The biodegradable properties of some bioplastics have been identified as a promising solution to divert food and food packaging waste from landfill while avoiding plastic leaking into the environment. However, such bio-based biodegradable alternatives may not necessarily provide an improvement in overall environmental impact, especially when considering their efficacy at preventing food waste. This is the first systematic review to investigate the relationship between food packaging and food waste, based on conventional and biodegradable plastic food packaging life-cycle assessments (LCAs). It focuses on the trade-offs that may occur between food packaging production, end-of-life management and food waste prevention across the entire food packaging life-cycle. Following a review of 111 papers, 19 were identified for further investigation and data extraction. Quantitative analysis for five LCA impact categories, as well as hotspot analysis and end-of-life scenario analysis for global warming potential were conducted. The resulting picture is conflicting and suggests that though bioplastics display environmental benefits for global warming potential and non-renewable energy use, these are often negated by the agricultural inputs required for bioplastics raw material production. While the LCAs included in this study do not provide enough evidence to state which polymer is best at reducing food waste, they emphasise the environmental footprint associated with food production and food waste, and highlight the importance of including the food itself in food packaging LCAs. Therefore, focusing on food packaging performance in food waste minimisation is critical. We found that bioplastics provide the benefit of diverting biodegradable waste from landfill or incineration to ‘greener’ streams such as anaerobic digestion and composting, contributing to a circular economy. Encouraging biodegradable bioplastics should target plastic packaging where effective recycling measures are failing due to the challenges that remain for treating and recycling materials made of multiple, highly food-contaminated layers. The bioplastic industry is still young and optimising both the manufacturing process and material biophysical properties would contribute towards improving the overall environmental profiles of bioplastics.

Climate change and the impact of human activities on the environment are at the forefront of many global discussions. One option to address climate change at a large scale is for manufacturers to reduce packaging waste, such as by using recycled packaging materials (Adekomaya & Majozi, 2020; Hopewell et al., 2009; Humphrey, 2009; Nordin & Selke, 2010), for both food and non-food products. By investigating how recycled plastic packaging biases consumers’ perceptions of product naturalness, across five studies, the authors establish that consumers tend to perceive products in recycled plastic packaging, compared with regular plastic packaging, as more natural, and also that they are more likely to purchase these products, due to the increased perceptions of naturalness. The effects hold for a variety of food and non-food products: cereals, cookies, shampoo, laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, moisturizer, shower gel, and toothpaste. In contrast with plastic, which is considered an unsustainable material, recycled packaging does not affect perceived product naturalness for sustainable materials such as cardboard; this material, in its “regular” state, already may appear sufficiently natural and less harmful for the environment (Lindh et al., 2016; Magnier et al., 2016), in line with the embedding effect (Irwin & Spira, 1997; Kahneman & Knetsch, 1992). The effect of recycled plastic packaging also can be clarified by integrating consumers’ CSR beliefs. Even if recycled plastic packaging is more processed, and therefore less natural, it evokes higher CSR beliefs about the company, which leads to higher perceived naturalness of the product. This effect applies to both food and non-food products. Using a variety of stimuli and a variety of samples, we obtain strong support for our hypotheses. This evidence that recycled plastic packaging affects the perceived naturalness of products and consumers’ purchase intentions is highly relevant to product manufacturers, public policy makers, and consumers, especially in their environmental consumption efforts. In a sense, recycled packaging offers a double-edged sword. On the one hand, in their efforts to reduce packaging waste (European Commission n.d. “Circular”), public policy makers want to encourage or mandate the use of recycled plastic, which will benefit the product manufacturers too. Using recycled plastic packaging reinforces the company’s CSR reputation, though they also must take care to avoid evoking suspicions of greenwashing. On the other hand, such greenwashing can serve to manipulate consumer perceptions. Public policy makers should realize that the use of recycled packaging can cause consumers to develop product naturalness perceptions, which may or may not be accurate. One solution to this potential issue is requiring naturalness claims signaled by packaging to be better regulated.

Consumer demand for high quality food products has driven the packaging industry to look for new solutions to enhance food safety. In packaged food products, seal integrity is essential to the physical, chemical and biological quality of the packaged product as seal integrity failure will not only compromise product safety and containment, but also significantly reduce shelf-life. Intelligent packaging integrated with O2 sensors are capable of monitoring packaging process efficiency, integrity and improving food safety by facilitating enhanced surveillance of packaged food products throughout the food supply chain, whilst being contactless and non-destructive, economical, fast, reliable and versatile over a wide range of environmental and processing conditions. Numerous commercial technologies now exist to both control O2 within product packages and monitor O2 levels within food and beverage packs. Although there are many O2 sensing dyes and materials reported in the scientific literature, only a limited number have been used in food packaging applications. This chapter will summarise the applications of different phosphorescent O2 sensors used to non-destructively monitor O2 in packaged food and beverage products.

There is strong evidence that children are particularly vulnerable to the persuasiveness of marketing, and that their exposure to marketing of unhealthy food products influences their preference for and consumption of these products(1). In New Zealand (NZ), marketing is self-regulated by the industry-led Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA has two relevant codes, the Children’s Advertising and Food and Beverage Advertising Codes; however, product packaging is omitted. We investigated child-appealing marketing techniques displayed on packaged food products in NZ. We also assessed the potential impacts of different nutrient profiling systems to inform future policy design to restrict child-appealing marketing on food products in NZ. This research was conducted using the 2023 Nutritrack dataset, which contains data collected via photographs of packaged food products available in major NZ supermarkets. We focused on product categories that were shown to have a high prevalence of child-appealing marketing in a similar Australian study(2): confectionery, snack foods, cereal bars and breakfast cereals (n=2015 products). The images of products within these selected categories were assessed and coded using the “Child-appealing packaging” criteria developed by Mulligan et al.(3). Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess differences in nutrient composition between products with and without child-appealing packaging, using information extracted from Nutrient Information Panels. In addition, the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion (NPSC) and the World Health Organization Nutrient Profiling Model for the Western Pacific Region (WHO WPRO) were applied to all food products identified as appealing to children to determine which products would be ineligible to be marketed to children under these two potential policy options. Overall, 724 (35.9%) of the 2015 products examined had child-appealing packaging. Snack foods had the highest proportion of products with child-appealing packaging (44.5%), followed by confectionery (39.3%), cereal bars (23.3%) and breakfast cereals (22%). The most common type of child-appealing marketing technique used was “child-appealing visual/graphical design of package” which featured on 513 food items. Overall, compared with products without child-appealing packaging, the median content of energy, protein, total fat, and saturated fat was lower, and the median content of sugar and sodium was higher in products with child-appealing packaging (all p<0.05). Of the 724 products that were found to have child-appealing packaging, 566 (78.2%) would be considered ineligible to be marketed to children when assessed using the NPSC and 706 (97.5%) would be ineligible using the WHO WPRO.Our research shows that a considerable number of food products available in New Zealand supermarkets are using marketing techniques on their packaging that appeal to children. If policies were introduced to reduce the use of child-appealing marketing on food packaging, the WHO WPRO would provide the highest level of protection for children.

Aim: The aim of this study is to determine food label reading habits of individuals working in hospitals, and raise awareness about food label reading with the help of a data collection form prepared based on the topic. Material/Methods: The research was carried out with 336 people (76 males, 260 females) between the ages of 19-60 working in various hospitals in Ankara city. Results: In this work, we found that the mean age of participant was 32.85±8.34 years old and BMI was 23.37±4.02 kg/m². 53.9% of the individuals stated that the most influential factor to purchase a packaged food product was their own preference. It was determined that 44.6% of the individuals always read the label of a packaged food product. 36.9% stated that this information was always effective in purchasing, and 57.1% reported the information was occasionally influential. Conclusion: Food labels can help promote the awareness of consumers about nutrition, and access right information.

Preserving the quality and safety of food products with a high nutritive value and good shelf life stability are the major objectives of food manufacturers, particularly for perishable food products. Dairy-based hygroscopic food products, including many types of milk powders, are among the main daily consumed foods considered as perishable food products. Keeping the quality and safety of these foods and increasing their shelf life are mainly dependent on their nature, manufacturing steps, packaging materials, packaging conditions, and storage conditions. Packaging materials and packaging processes are vital in the domain of food protection after the manufacturing steps, until the product reaches the consumer. In other words, without good packaging materials, the packaged food product can deteriorate in a short time after the packaging process. Because of this, significant effort has been devoted to developing sustainable, efficient, and eco-friendly food packaging systems. In this regard, active packaging systems are the most important innovative food packaging systems that can offer big benefits to the packaged food products. Active packaging systems play a key role in the avoidance of microbial contamination and biochemical deterioration of the packaged foods, particularly perishable foods, including dairy-based hygroscopic food products like milk powders. However, complete success in these systems is heavily dependent on the selected packaging materials and the compounds that need to be incorporated into the packaging materials to enhance their properties and to turn them into active packaging materials. Therefore, the attention in this chapter will be focused on active packaging systems applied to milk powders. At the end of this chapter, a perspective is given on the future of active packaging materials needed for dairy-based hygroscopic foods.

Compilation of an Australian database of manufactured and packaged food products containing wholegrain ingredients