The packaging protects the food product, but it is not just that; everything goes much further, accompanies the company’s brand, power and is a reflection of it in the future. The product cannot lose prestige by using unsuitable materials.
The consumer is more demanding every day and is much more aware of the issue of sustainability and health care through food. This has an impact on the food industries demanding ecological packaging to wrap their food products.
We are in the era of eco-packaging. It has come to stay. The home cooked food containers are sustainable and the packaging ecological so that many of them become substrates that enrich the earth’s soil.
The main issue is to carry out a culture of manufacturing ecological food packaging, in order to recycle and reuse.
The capacity of our society and, above all, the industrial development of companies of biodegradable packaging for food products has been one of our main weapons for the development of a great bet in which the world knows the best flavors of the most exquisite cuisine from anywhere in the world. It also allows the consumer to adjust the dose of food avoiding losses.
Most used bioplastic materials
The most used bioplastics in the food sector are:
Á acid lactic acid (PLA) . Lactic acid or PLA is easy to find in trays, bags and bottles due to its mechanical properties similar to those of PET and PS and its high transparency. PLA is one of the containers that does not have its origin in oil, complying with the European standard DIN 13432 , so it is a compostable material that enriches the terrestrial substrate.
To thermoplastic starches (TPS). Today there are different varieties of TPS, which makes their properties very different for better usability.
Polihidroxialcanoatos (PHAS). These elements can also be considered as materials within the family of biodegradable plastics. PHAS are obtained from a bacterial fermentation process.
The new research that continues to be produced indicates that biodegradable plastic packaging is the future and more specifically it is one of the best options for containers in the food industry.
Evolution of disposable food packaging
In the United States, this type of regulation has been imposed in its public establishments since the 40s of the last century to prevent infections among the population. Perhaps its legislation was not specific about what should be recyclable and not, but it is excusable because science had not reached as far as in this 21st century.
Today, there are single-use food containers that excessive use and indiscriminate use unfairly get a bad name. Plastic has evolved in the way our society demands, so we are at the best point to consume this type of disposable food container that provides us with benefits, but as consumers we have to be especially critical in the use of different packaging, containers and packaging and choose the most appropriate at all times.
Currently, in many establishments they offer us to take the food that we have not been able to finish in compostable or recyclable containers to transport it to our home and avoid the loss of those foods.
