Food-grade bags for food packaging
Numerous stories have appeared in the media over recent years concerning the safety of various types of food packaging. The increased public awareness these have generated should be of great concern to food manufacturers, as it serves nobody to produce and distribute consumables to the highest hygiene standards if the buying public no longer has confidence in its packaging.
Naturally, it’s the chemicals in some forms of plastic packaging that are causing the greatest concern, but the ready availability of food-safe materials means that you shouldn’t have to compromise between long-term customer wellbeing and short-term hygiene.
Why is food-grade packaging safer?
Food-grade polythene bags are plastic products that meet the most rigorous standards of hygiene control whilst using only polymers and additives that meet European food packaging
regulations.
Food-grade products are always made from virgin materials with no recycled components, meaning their origins and composition are not in doubt.
Most products made from polyethylene and polypropylene are generally considered safe for use with food and drink; these include common materials such as polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE).
Other common materials, such as low density polyethylene (LDPE) and many polypropylene products, are known to be hazardous during production but are generally considered safe for use with food. However, they’re not as widely recyclable as other materials, and are rarely considered among the best products for food use.
Why is some packaging unsafe for food products?
Others plastics still in common use, including polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene based products, may leach carcinogens into the food products within.
Others, such as polycarbonates, also contain ingredients hazardous to human health. Some of these products also utilise chemicals that can act as hormone disruptors.
Whilst many of these plastics are still frequently used for food packaging, there is a move to reduce the use of the more hazardous types. To this end, the best products, certified food safe by the BRC, are usually identified by a blue tint.
So how reliable are these certifications?
What are BRC packaging standards?
The British Retail Consortium, or BRC, runs a quality certification programme used by over 23,000 suppliers in more than a hundred countries worldwide. Their standards guarantee certain quality, safety and other criteria in product manufacture, and it’s this set of standards that defines food-safe polythene products.
The BRC was formed by the merger of its predecessor organisations in 1992. In 1998 it published the BRC Food Technical Standard and Protocol for food suppliers, which has formed the basis of the standards to which they have worked ever since.
Keep your products fresh with BRC standard food-grade bags.
How can Marpak Extrusions help?
Marpak Extrusions manufacture premium packaging for the food and drink market. Their food-grade polythene bags seal in quality, stabilise stock, and secure it against contamination and pests.
As specialists with over 30 years of experience in polythene extrusion, we can ensure naturally food-safe plastic packaging, so your products taste just as good and are just as safe as when you made them.
We believe in a strong customer focus, and consider our client needs paramount. We offer all our products tailored according to individual customer specification, as a complete bespoke packaging solution.
Custom polythene food bags
The packaging options we offer include using UVI, an additive to the product that gives protection to the contents where they’re likely to be exposed to prolonged sunlight. This is an ideal solution for wrapping products that may be stored outside.
Tinted films are also available in order to provide visibility of the product within, or opaque films where that is not required.
All our food-safe plastic wrapping products can be supplied perforated, on the roll, or in single bag format to meet the needs of every type of food manufacture. They can be supplied either in standard sizes, or made to fit the specifications of equipment or products.
Our specialist plastic packaging is also available in a range of colours and styles, with options for printed information on the film, as well as for more general use with food-safe blue tint.
