Packaging technologies that ensure food safety

THE RISE of a discerning middle class, an increasingly health conscious culture and a growing scarcity of food resources in the Middle East are putting pressure on food companies to strengthen food safety and raise quality standards throughout their supply chains.

In fact, earlier last year the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Federal National Council passed a strict new federal law on food safety to be enforced in all UAE territories. The bill regulates food production within the country and from imports and aims to tighten control on the food supply chain by using international best practices.

With high-profile food recalls such as Hero baby formula in the UAE, where a batch of 150-gram follow-up formula packages were found to be contaminated in 2010, it is clear that packaging is critical to food safety and security throughout the supply chain.

Packaging helps preserve the integrity of food; it plays a key role in maintaining freshness, protects food from damage and contamination. Packaging is also an important medium for communicating information about food contents, nutritional value, preparation and storage, as well as sharing recycling and composting instructions to consumers.

Gary Esguerra is Senior Director, APMEA Sustainable Supply Chain & Quality Systems at HAVI Global Solutions

Traceability from farm to fork

Ensuring food safety requires visibility into its journey from farm to fork. Food and beverage companies are not only expected to deliver more, high-quality products, faster and for less, but to provide all the information associated with the origins of ingredients and product materials including packaging, as well as the conditions under which they were produced and transported along the value chain.

The first step in a holistic approach to traceability is ensuring that all entities understand the existing regulations, comply with them, and have processes in place to respond to new rules. Establishing a clear view of all suppliers’ operations is an important step to ensure they have instituted their own traceability programs. It also enables the entire supply chain to adapt to today’s changing business, environmental and government landscapes.

Track and trace systems can be implemented throughout the supply chain. These systems consist of special barcodes, labels made from different materials like paper, aluminum, polyester, ceramic and radio frequency identification. For instance food companies print a unique identifying code onto each product after it has been packaged; these are very useful, especially during supply chain quality checks, for quality control and safety.

Preventing food contamination and damage

The migration of contaminants through cartonboard used in food packaging has been a cause for concern since 2010, with the identification of mineral oils from recycled newsprint as a potential threat to consumer health.

The packaging industry has already taken several steps to reduce the level of mineral oil present in food contact packaging. In conjunction with customer requirements, packaging solutions are available that exclude the use of mineral oil-based inks as well as risk assessment studies in case post-consumer fibers are used for food packaging. In addition, Norwegian company Mayr-Melnhof Karton is tackling this issue with its new FOODBOARD, which is a high-quality, coated, recyclable, food-grade cartonboard with a unique functional barrier on the food contact side of the board that shields packaged food from unintended substances.

Secure packaging critical to food safety

Secure packaging is an essential way to avoid counterfeiting and ensure safety of goods. The number of levels at which authentication, tamper-evidence, and track-and-trace elements can be added to products, and particularly to their packaging, has grown significantly.

Visual Authentication is the method of using the naked eye or a scanner to identify flaws. Visual Authentication packaging features include overt and covert holograms, physical and digital watermarks, specially designed inks and dyes and taggants for detection and identification. This method provides immense value to food brand owners looking to protect their products.

On- or in-pack technologies are often used on high risk items and are very difficult or impossible to replicate. An example of this is the development of the two-dimensional barcode.

Embracing smart packaging of the future

Looking ahead to the future, a key technological trend which is set to expand rapidly is that of smart packaging, with 33 percent of respondents in a recent survey highlighting this as a key development for the future.¹

The latest advances in smart packaging include augmented reality systems, radio frequency identification (RFID) and near-field communication (NFC) smart tags alongside anti-bacterial films that prevent label contamination.

A research center in Spain specializing in packaging, ITENE, has developed scavenging and emitting technologies that are able to increase the shelf life of food products by up to 30 percent. They are also focusing on indicators/sensors for product communication, including spoilage indicators to enhance food safety. Natural agents detect early spoilage compounds resulting in a color change to the attached label indicator.

While food companies in the Middle East are under increasing pressure to provide greater transparency and compliance with food safety controls, there is an opportunity to embrace smart packaging innovations not only to meet food safety regulations but also to gain consumer loyalty and improve efficiency throughout their supply chain.

¹ HAVI Global Solutions survey: ‘Future of Packaging: 2023’