When you are in the food or beverage industries, the materials you use for your packaging are of the utmost importance. How they look and how they safely and securely protect your products while maintaining their freshness and appeal to your customers can make or break your success.

You’re in highly competitive industries. Virginia and Washington, D.C.-based research group Hanover Research estimated that the size of the global food packaging market would increase to over $251 billion in 2013. They also reported that the North American food packaging market would reach some $54 billion. That makes for a great deal of food and beverage packaging that’s needed.

Food and Beverage Packaging: What to Consider for Your Products

The food and beverage packaging markets run the full spectrum of materials that range from glass jars to metal cans to rigid plastic containers to paperboard cartons to flexible packaging. While all of these are all greatly used, flexible packaging is becoming increasingly popular because of its strength and much lighter weight.

Flexible Packaging

Flexible packaging is now becoming the go-to form of packaging due to its popularity with your customers. While plastics and glass offer their own benefits, flexible packaging offers the folowing:

  • less material waste
  • increased shelf life
  • increased product visibility
  • resealability
  • easy pouring of contents
  • unique branding for your products

Plastics for Food and Beverage Packaging

There are seven different types of plastics available for packaging. You can leverage the most popular forms of resin materials: PET, Polypropylene (PP), and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). Of these, polyethylene terephthlalate (PET) bottles are ideal for waters, carbonated beverages, teas, juices, and sports drinks. The realm of sizes and shapes is endless. In fact, a beverage container has even been designed that has the transparency of glass with the refractive properties of crystal

For example. you can consider PET heat set technology. This enables your beverages to be filled at a temperature of up to 185 degrees Fahrenheit. This helps strengthen your product’s quality and greatly improve its shelf life.

There is also a form of PET that is now a recycled post-consumer “thermoformed” food container. Thermoforming refers to the process of heating a thermoplastic sheet to its softening point. It is then stretched over or into a single-sided mold and held in place until it cools and solidifies into the desired shape.

Thermoforming is commonly used for food packaging. It is ideal for packaging of:

  • cookies, donuts, and other baked goods
  • fresh fruit and vegetables
  • individual servings of pies
  • individual or small portions of meats or ethnic foods
  • pre-packaged fresh meals
  • salads
  • sandwiches

It can be used with any of these plastics:

  • Acrylics (PMMA)
  • Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)
  • Cellulose acetate
  • Low density polyethylene (LDPE)
  • High density polyethylene (HDPE)
  • Polypropylene (PP)
  • Polystyrene (PS)
  • Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

You can also choose a selection of barriers. These include coating technologies and mono- and multi-layer barrier materials. These work to protect your products from light and carbon dioxide permeation as well as oxygen and moisture.

You can also customize your food and beverage packaging. There are numerous packaging capabilities that cover a wide range processing environments. These include:

  • cold fill
  • ESL
  • high acid aseptic
  • hot fill
  • low acid aseptic
  • multi-phase filling
  • retort
  • ultra clean
  • vacuum

Glass for Food and Beverage Packaging

Glass still continues to be used for both the food and beverage markets. While there is the drawback of its weight when compared with flexible packaging and the use of various plastics, it still lends itself to continued use due to its ability to be repeatedly recycled along with the protection of the products held by it. It does not allow the entry of oxygen or other contaminants and will not leak.

If you’re not sure where to begin your food and beverage packaging solutions journey, you’ll need to obtain a highly knowledgeable consultant who can advise you of the best packaging for your products. They should be aware of the latest regulations surrounding your packaging needs and have access to many numerous suppliers.

Choosing the right food and beverage packaging solutions for your products can be difficult and vital to your branding. MJS Packaging offers the best customer service and lowest prices for your product packaging. We have exclusive access to manufacturers from all around the world, so we can advise you on the best bottles, tubes, closures, caps, and other packaging needs you may have.