Flexible packaging: All wrapped up to ensure food safety

Our practices with respect to consuming food and beverages have been changing over time. In today’s day and time, one of the most important aspects of food safety is packaging. The rapid urbanisation and pace, rising population, and growing purchasing power of consumers have led to changes in the consumption patterns of buyers. These factors have in turn led to consumers progressively relying on convenient, ready-to-eat food products.
 
The amount of packaged food and beverages we consume is startling. Thus, it is about time we focus on figuring out the finer aspects of packaging to ensure safe food. Today, safe food is accorded the highest priority by end consumers. Consequentially, appropriate packaging, which preserves the nutritional value of food, is the need of the hour.

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Nowadays, consumers are well informed, socially connected and are very discerning when it comes to consumption of food products. One such consumer-influenced trend which is gaining importance in the packaging industry is the need to espouse ‘sustainability’.
 
With consumers becoming increasingly aware of global environmental issues, it is imperative to understand the importance of communicating your brand’s commitment towards sustainability in an engaging way, on the packaging. This will enable the brand to attract and retain consumers.
 
Secondly, being health conscious, these days, consumers demand that health credentials of the product be displayed on the package; thus, allowing them to make informed choices about their food. Thirdly, with today’s increasingly busy lifestyles, consumers seek smaller, lighter and easily disposable packaging; thus, making their consumption easier.

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Innovations such as flexible packaging have led to a remarkable shift in the food packaging industry. It is durable, lightweight - hence, reduces transportation costs - and occupies less space as compared to the other packaging products. Flexible packaging products are made of flexible materials such as plastic, aluminium and paper. There is a detailed conversion process that they have to undergo including printing, lamination, coating and extrusion. In order to produce high quality flexible packaging materials, the adhesive used is a key factor. The film composition, the printing ink as well as the adhesive need to be aligned to deliver the required properties of modern flexible packaging.
 
  With ever-changing consumer preferences, organised retail chain formats and the changing dynamics of the population, there is significant growth being predicted in the Indian packaging industry, and the consequent upsurge in demand for modern packaging methods. The Indian packaging industry, which is growing at an approximate rate of 15 percent annually, is estimated to become the fourth-largest packaging market in the world, with revenues of $ 43.7 billion in 2016. The market research reports have also estimated the flexible packaging market in India to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 15-16 percent over the next 5 years.


 
Some recent events have been very critical for the food industry. With the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) getting more focused on promoting a consistent nutritional standard, big brands are giving packaging prominence on their food processing quality checklist. How does packaging affect food safety? Flexible laminates comprises of different layers and each of these layers has a different role to play. Among others, a flexible pack mainly contains films, inks, adhesives and coatings, and each of these components contribute to food safety.

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Let us take the example of adhesives, one of raw materials used in flexible packaging, which are used to bond the different layers together. On the one hand, there is a possibility of food getting contaminated with substances used for packaging, such as adhesives, while on the other hand, losses from food could take place through migration into packaging. Migration could lead to quality loss of the packaged food, health hazard due to the transfer of dangerous substances from the packaging into the food, or sometimes even make the packaged food inedible. This might result in a withdrawal of the packaged foodstuff from the market. Thus, packaging is a vital part of food safety. Therefore, it is crucial for the existing players and the upcoming enterprises in the packaging and adhesive industries to come up with solutions that can help the brand owners to ultimately deliver the best quality product to the end consumer.
 
Food safety needs to be considered by all stakeholders of the value chain. All the components used to make the packaging material need to fulfil requirements of the relevant regulation (like for example FDA, EU framework). Moreover, we should have more communication among all stakeholders so that knowledge is shared and alignment is ensured. Lastly, it is important to use right tools for risk assessments and conduct regular product safety audits.
 
In conclusion, as the need of the industry today is to reduce the pressure on bottom lines, each stakeholder of the flexible packaging value chain needs to focus on safety, quality and productivity.
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S Sunil Kumar is the business director (industrial adhesives) at Henkel Adhesives Technologies India Pvt Ltd