The Role Of Packaging In Food Processing

Abstract

The role of packaging in food processing is just one among many ways of food preservation.  As soon as food is packaged, it is set for shipment and marketing.  For many food technologists to embark on food packaging, the food technologist must have food knowledge of the technology, materials, labour equipments, capital, research, engineering and management involved in any such food processing establishment.  The package purposely protects the product from environmental hazards throughout the period of shelf life (Schoeld and Joseph, 1992).

Packaging plays the important role of a catalyst between the consumer and the product.  Products reach and popularity is determined by its entire look and feel.With meterial business booming, the packaging industry too has been catapulted to greater heights with constant changes.  Even our traditional food industry expects packaging to perform magic and propel its cuisines on the worlds best selling items list.  (Boyd and Haper, 1990). Consumers today are also looking for balance between cost and convenience.  And the mass production of small sachets seems to be at the forefront in this metail boom.

With higher output, reliability of operation and flexibility of size in demand, effective secondary packaging was become important to support.  Which is why multi track machines comprising of 10 tracks with outputs of around 500 machines require skilled manpower, proper quality packaging material and suitable post packaging methods?  Double and triple head machines too are easier to handle and offer flexibility for smaller batch sizes.  (Griffin and Sacharow, 1990).  For meeting with the requirements of increasing shelf – life the industry has seen an entry of various machinery like the Aseptic pouch packing systems, Retort packing systems and Modified Atmosphere Packing System (MAP).

Conclusion

The large losses from farm to plate are attributed to poor handling, distribution, storage, and purchase consumption behaviour. Huge resources that could otherwise be spent on more productive activities go into producing and transporting goods that only go to waste. Losses at almost event stage of the food chain may be reduced by using appropriate packaging. Packaging is an essential part of a long-term incremental development process to reduce losses, that will have to employ a blend of technologies and processes (01 units and Wall eg, 2009).

The global food packaging industry has a lot to contribute not only in addressing food losses but also in ensuring food safety as well as enhancing global food trade, which is a key to economic development of varying economies. This report briefly introduces the global packaging industry: its size, its structure, and its products. An overview is then provided of the status and trends of food packaging in developing countries, and a SWOT (strengths-weaknesses opportunities-threats) analysis is carried out. This information is required to arrive at the appropriate solutions for developing countries to address the constraints presently faced by the agro- and food industry in meeting their packaging needs. Finally a set of conclusions and recommendations are presented.