Food Packaging

This content highlights the advantages of switching from rigid plastic containers to Whirl-Pak® Bags in the sample collecting and storage process. The benefits include a significant reduction in plastic media waste, greenhouse gas emissions, water usage in manufacturing, overall hands-on time, and storage space. Additional advantages encompass lower shipping and disposal costs, along with puncture-proof, leak-proof closure tabs, guaranteed sterility, and easy identification. The information is backed by a case study conducted in April 2022 by Nasco Sampling LLC. The content also provides a step-by-step guide for implementing the switch, addressing considerations such as raw material and finished product testing, informing purchasing and disposal services, capturing team concerns, and setting up product and testing stations. The Whirl-Pak® Bags meet federal regulations and comply with standards set by FDA, USDA, HACCP, and EPA. For further information or assistance in transitioning

Stretch wrap is a critical component for securing your products for the all-important journey to your customers. Stretch wrap is easily overlooked during busy day-to-day schedules of food manufacturing, but taking the time to review your usage and applications can save time and money.

Stretch wrap manufacturing technology improves every year. For years 20" wide rolls of 80 gauge 5,000 to 6000-ft long were the industry standard. While those wraps still exist, you can convert to 70, 60, or even 50 gauge high performance film with roll lengths up to 9,000-ft. While your roll price might increase your total stretch wrap usage will go down, and this saves money and uses less material - keeping your operation greener.

For hand wrap applications there are even more solutions. It's no longer necessary to struggle with conventional film, stretching it over short pallets straining your back and wasting time. Pre-stretched hand film with a folded edge makes hand applications less back

Back in 1960s, Roald Dahl’s imagination ran away with Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory in Charlie and Chocolate Factory where Willy Wonka, Oompa-Loompas, and the Everlasting Gobstopper were created. In 1971 the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was released into theaters where we watched Willy Wonka drink from a tea cup and then eat it. It has been 45 years since the movie was created, and the age of edible or innovative packaging is becoming a reality.

If we take the time to think about the amount of packaging we use on just one item, we might rethink what we could do differently. For example, as I’m writing this article I am eating a bag of microwave popcorn. The popcorn comes in a bag, the bag is in a cellophane wrapper, and the wrapped

The world of food grade packaging films is a colorful and complicated one. There is no end to the options and variables. At the end of the day there are two main categories: Barrier and Non-Barrier films.

Non-Barrier Films
The simpler and less costly option of the two. While there are many different potential components, LLDPE & linear low density polyethylene is probably the most prevalent. This material makes up most of the zip lock bags or trash bin liners films we purchase every day. LLDPE is a flexible material suitable for short term storage. Many 55lb bulk butter applications utilize LLDPE film, as well as cheese sold for processing within days of production.

Barrier

There is no such thing as a "good" bag or "bad" bag. In cheese packaging, what matters is whether the bag works for your particular application.

Prior to using a particular cheese bag on a regular basis, you should "qualify" the bag for your process. That means running a small number of bags on machinery under standard conditions. Ideally, technical experts from your bag vendor should be present during the trial run.

Examine the package for an adequate, leak-proof seal. Put it through your standard storage and distribution process. Only then can you be confident that this particular bag works with your manufacturing process.

If anything in your process changes, you should re-qualify your packaging material. To keep your cost as low as possible, packaging materials are usually designed with a very small margin of error. Even something as simple as a new sealing bar can be the reason for re-qualifying your packaging material. This gives you the best guarantee

“Gluten-Free” might represent a new diet fad to some, but to those that suffer from celiac disease, the label is of the utmost importance. Celiac disease is a digestive condition that can reek havoc on sufferers’ daily lives if gluten finds a way into their diets. To ensure the safety of celiac sufferers, the FDA has stepped in to regulate gluten-free claims on food packaging.

According to an FDA News Release: “This new federal definition standardizes the meaning of ‘gluten-free’ claims across the food industry. It requires that, in order to use the term ‘gluten-free’ on its label, a food must meet all of the requirements of the definition, including that the food must contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten. The rule also requires foods with the claims ‘no gluten,’ ‘free of gluten,’ and ‘without

There is no such thing as a “good” bag or “bad” bag. In cheese packaging, what matters is whether the bag works for your particular application.

• Prior to using a particular cheese bag on a regular basis, you should “qualify” the bag for your process. That means running a small number of bags on machinery under standard conditions. Ideally, technical experts from your bag vendor should be present during the trial run.

• Examine the package for an adequate, leak-proof seal. Put it through your standard storage and distribution process. Only then can you be confident that this particular bag works with your manufacturing process.

• If anything in your process changes, you should re-qualify your packaging material. In order to keep your cost as low as possible, packaging materials are usually designed with a very small margin of error. Even something as simple as a new sealing bar can be reason

As a distributor of packaging supplies, it’s important for us to keep up with new trends and information. The February 2011 edition of Prepared Foods features an editorial called “Nutritional Packaging Ratings and Goals”.  It discusses how the Institute of Medicine issued a report in October 2010 discussing the advantages and disadvantages of current front-of-packaging (FOP) labeling.  Here are six of the conclusions that this report disclosed:

1)      FOP labeling is best geared toward the general population. However, the committee recognized that an appropriately designed system may be useful for determining products that may be marketed to children.

2)      The most useful primary purpose of FOP labeling would be to help consumers identify and select foods based on the nutrients most strongly linked to public health concerns for America.

3)      Regardless