Packaging

Abstract

Nowadays food packaging is a multifunctional participant in the food industry. The packs have multiple functions; they contain, preserve and protect the product. The outer covering should also to inform the consumer about the product and the design should promote the product. The packaging also has a secondary function, that of loss,, damage and waste reduction for distributor and customer and the facilitatation of storage, handling and other commercial operations. Packaging technologies bring together a vast range of techniques and materials with two basic objectives: to protect the product and to display items for sale. So packaging has thus progressed from the functional to the expressive as result of some factors: the aim to motivate customers to buy the product and to convey a suitable product image for selling. According to the FAO report, 50% of agricultural products are destroyed because of the absence of packaging. The causes of this loss are bad weather, physical, chemical and microbiological deteriorations. Industrialization and the consumption of natural resources has accelerated progress so the manufacturer of packaging or manufacturer of packaging machines have to adapt and to anticipate trends and realize that only automation can provide the necessary flexibility to satisfy industrial needs. Progress in the packaging of foodstuffs will prove crucial over the next few years mainly because of new consumer patterns and demands creation and of world population growth which is estimated to 15 billion by 2025. In this context "Packaging for foodstuffs" became more of a necessity today than yesterday, but not nearly as much as tomorrow (Jean-Paul Pothet, 1996). At present, foodstuffs represent 50% of the market for packaging, which represents a huge growth of this business field. These changes led to new developments in packaging technology. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.