Food Packaging: Technology and the Environment

Food packaging is the largest application area for the packaging industry. The output value of the food packaging industry accounts for more than 60% of the total output value of the packaging industry, which is in line with the status of the food industry itself.

China's food industry includes many market segments such as beverages, dairy products, alcohol and alcoholic beverages, edible oils, sweets, convenience foods, and condiments. Among them, beverages, dairy products and beer are the most demanding industries for single-package products such as PET bottles, two-piece cans, and paper composite aseptic packaging.

The improvement and development of food packaging depends on the progress of packaging technology itself, and on the other hand, changes in the environment and conditions of product sales and changes in people's living standards and living habits. Every successful food package is the perfect combination of the three.

The shackles and incitement of dairy packaging
Tetra Pak is the world's largest packaging company and the most successful foreign packaging company in the Chinese market. Some even said: It is Tetra Pak's ultra-high temperature sterilization technology and aseptic packaging, which has created China's prosperous liquid milk market and dairy industry today.

In all fairness, such a statement is not very exaggerated.

Since China's milk source is far away from the central city, the sales radius of dairy companies is hard to exceed 500 kilometers before the formation of a complete cold chain, especially for liquid dairy companies. The emergence of Tetra Pak aseptic packaging technology has extended the shelf life of liquid dairy products to more than one year, thus becoming a prerequisite for the expansion of Chinese dairy companies.

The same is Tetra Pak, which is very powerful in the Chinese market, but it is difficult to display in the US market. This is because of the strong competitors in the US market, International Paper, but more importantly, the United States has already formed a complete cold chain system. Under such circumstances, the US market has been completely occupied by pasteurized milk.

Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why, with the improvement of China's cold chain, the dairy packaging enterprises headed by the international paper industry carried out the absolute counterattack of Pap's milk in the Chinese market.

Whether it is Tetra Pak or international paper, the current Chinese dairy packaging market is still dominated by paper composite packaging, which makes the product packaging in the Chinese dairy market all the same, lacking individuality, and it is difficult for manufacturers to differentiate their operations. Therefore, looking for other forms of dairy packaging has always been the company's passion. At present, although there are composite papers or plastic flexible packagings such as Baile bags and Tetra Pillows in the Chinese market, they still cannot be as colorful as beverage packaging.

The technology of HDPE bottles for normal temperature milk packaging has matured and may become the next hot spot for dairy packaging. At present, the main reason for enterprises to wait and see is huge investment. However, compared to normal temperature milk packaging, it is easier to diversify the dairy packaging, which will be a new packaging system based on the cold chain.

Consumption habits and meat packaging
There are fewer and fewer cooked meat products processed on the spot in the Chinese market. Many cities have already required cooked meat products processed in supermarkets to be packaged for sale.

Packaging is a requirement for large-scale production of food industrialization. Food companies can only expand their sales radius and better establish their brands with good packaging. Today Chinese consumers have fully recognized the packaged cooked meat products, as the sales of these products are mainly done in supermarkets.

The raw meat of European and American countries is basically sold in hypermarkets or food malls. Even if overseas Chinese are used to buying in the vegetable market, the proportion of unpacked raw meat is very low. This is very different from the situation in China at this stage. At present, the proportion of raw meat packaging in China is very low. Even large city residents mainly purchase fresh meat in the fresh market, and raw meat packaging is not accepted by most consumers. This is related to the Chinese people's consumption habits and misunderstandings about the nutritional knowledge of meat products. The Chinese have not yet widely accepted the idea that pre-cooled raw meat is more nutritious and has a better taste. Most people still habitually think that the meat is getting closer to the slaughter time.

The reasons for the slow development of raw meat packaging in China for a long time are: consumption habits and prejudice in perception, and second, restrictions on consumption levels. With the increase in the consumption level of Chinese residents, the higher requirements for nutrition and health, and the impact of large-scale stores on the consumption habits of urban residents, China's raw meat packaging is beginning to accelerate its development. Just like the past cooked meat packaging, once accepted by the market, it is possible to expand rapidly in a short period of time, exceeding the expectations of experts.

The loss of plastic beer bottles and the smugness of transparent bottles
The seminar on plastic beer bottles has recently been reduced, but it does not mean that this market has been indulged. On the contrary, it is the darkness before dawn.
Plastic beer bottles have not yet opened up in China, mainly due to the following factors:
1. The technology itself is not off. The multi-layer bottle has the possibility of delamination; the coated bottle has the phenomenon of peeling off the coating;
2. Does not match the existing process. The existing sterilization and filling lines of the brewery cannot be directly used for the use of plastic beer, and a large investment is required for rerouting;
3. The cost is higher than glass bottles, although the cost gap is gradually narrowing.
There is a demonstration effect in the promotion of products. A successful case may lead to the development of an industry. Although some bottle-making companies have been seeking cooperation with breweries, so far, no breakthroughs have been made. There is a misunderstanding in the meantime. In order to open the market, the technical suppliers and bottle-making enterprises of plastic beer bottles are accommodating the existing production lines of beer companies, always trying to make the beer bottles can be adapted to the glass bottle production line as they are, so that it is easy for beer companies to accept. However, it is not always possible to get perfect results. Maybe change your mind and try to convince the brewery to design a craft route with a plastic beer bottle production line when it is on the new production line, and it is easier to get satisfactory results.

In addition, Valet filling is becoming an emerging industry. Anxious bottle-making enterprises may set up a plastic beer filling line on one day to start the application market of Chinese plastic beer bottles. Of course, because beer production enterprises are more complicated than beverage production technology, they can do it. Still just a guess.

In contrast to the struggling plastic beer packaging, the rapid growth of transparent beer labels. After the first flower of Jinwei Beer was introduced into the German transparent label labeling machine, the transparent beer label quickly spread in the high-end beer market. At present, famous brands such as Heineken and Carlsberg have started to use this new label product to improve. Brand.

Convenient food packaging is convenient
Convenience food is one of the fastest growing packaging markets, including instant noodles, biscuits, convenience snacks and more. Due to the wide variety, the packaging varies widely. The first thing to note about convenience food packaging is that it should provide the best convenience.

Many convenience foods are packaged in one-time consumption and mainly in plastic bags. Most of these products are engraved with a triangular-shaped small opening on one side of the bag to facilitate the consumer to tear the package; the aluminum-plastic composite plastic bag is generally cut into a row of sharp corners on the sealing edge of the bag. A common problem with such packages is that it is difficult to preserve the torn openings, which often have an irregular shape that causes the contents to scatter. The latest technology is to use a laser scoring machine to create a shallow scratch on top of the bag so that the consumer can tear a neat opening every time. I believe this technology will soon be promoted in the domestic food industry.

Convenient food packaging that requires multiple servings has many problems. The zipper bags commonly used in foreign countries are not widely used in domestic convenience food packaging. The combination of plastic “zippers” and laser scoring technology will provide real convenience for convenience foods that require repackaging.

The diversity of food packaging provides a broad space for imagination and experimentation for food packaging designers. Food design is moving away from a single graphic design model, with a greater focus on function and structure, safety and hygiene, and a deeper understanding of consumer habits.

Food packaging has also evolved from individual behavior to collective behavior. This group includes food engineers, packaging engineers and marketers from within the company, as well as packaging structure engineers and graphic designers from design companies, as well as engineers from production companies such as printing houses.