A Guide To Primary Food Packaging

What is primary food packaging?

Primary food packaging is required to preserve and contain foodstuffs. Primary packaging is the material that is in direct contact with the product, for example, chocolate bar wrapper, or crisp packet.

In a competitive and complex market, like food packaging, it is vital your packaging surpasses minimal requirements including:

• Fit for purpose – the packaging must keep the product fresh and protect the product from components that can impact the product’s substance – e.g., taste, scent, consistency, and shelf-life.
• Convenience – the packaging should be convenient to the consumer, making their purchasing and consumption experience enjoyable.
• Sufficiently labelled – the foodstuffs must include a label that outlines key aspects including the name of the food, list of ingredients, allergen information QUID, manufacturer, storage, consumption information, and more.
• The materials and components of the packaging must be suitable for direct contact with food, this is to protect human health and the nature, substance, and quality of the food contained in the packaging.
• Packaging must not impact the food shelf-life but must maintain or improve its condition.

In summary, the objective of primary food packaging is to contain food in a cost-effective way that satisfies industry requirements and consumer desires, maintains food safety, and minimises environmental impact. To determine suitability, the packaging must therefore meet your unique business requirements including your converting process, machines, printing, sustainability, or commercial objectives. As such, packaging is not only crucial from a product integrity perspective, it is important to ensure you attract the right customers as well as maintain trust from consumers.  

What are the characteristics of well-designed primary packaging?

When selecting packaging it is important to look out for well-designed primary packaging, this can take a variety of formats, however, it must meet the requirements below:

1. Dependability – packaging must put confidence in consumers, which asserts them that the contents must be of standard quality for consumption.
2. Security – packaging must be secured, for example, with a heat seal or secure closure, so to provide security for the protection of the product contained and protect consumers’ well-being.
3. Protection – packaging, at minimum, must protect and preserve the product contained in the packaging from various elements - such as moisture and oxygen which can negatively impact the product’s shelf-life, scent, consistency or taste.
4. Adaptability – packaging must be suitable for the environment it is required to be stored within, for example does not present any difficulties for storage in fridge or freezer environments.
5. Well designed – this means the packaging is not too heavy, nor is it designed to create inconvenience to buyers of products – therefore this makes it a key feature of food packaging.
6. Design – packaging must be on-brand and present a trusted and consistent brand design to consumers, without this, consumers may be discouraged from buying items they regularly buy from their preferred and trusted brand(s) of choice.

Current trends for primary food packaging

With growing technologies and the introduction of Plastic Tax, the packaging industry is continuously evolving to meet changing consumer demand. And with sustainable packaging becoming increasingly important companies must consider changes in their packaging to meet environmental commitments and align their businesses with their customers’ expectations and values.

• Barrier Packaging – in an attempt to reduce the reliance on multi-material plastic-laminate constructions which are not able to be recycled as part of the current infrastructure, there is a growing number of packaging materials becoming available which are made from a single material (mono) and include barrier properties suitable for primary food packaging.
• Paper Packaging – paper and cardboard are now viable alternatives to single-use plastic packaging for many different food products, such as sachets, pouches and bottles. This is largely due to the rise of barrier coatings, as these can be added to paper materials that can be recycled or composted. If you’re looking for a recyclable, paper packaging material that offers impressive barrier properties then check out our EcoPack solution.
• Recycled Materials Packaging – to reduce the volume of single-use plastics and the negative impacts this has on the environment, there is an increase in the volume of recycled plastic packaging solutions. For example, by weight, 94% of Co-op own-brand plastic is already recyclable at home. In addition, Tesco has launched Loop, a new system which allows customers to buy a wide range of food, drink, and beauty products in reusable and durable packaging. Tesco have stated that if customers in 10 stores switched just 3 items from their weekly shop to reusable alternatives the packaging would be used and reused more than 2.5 million times per year. L'Oréal are committed to this and their 2030 objective is to ensure all plastic in packaging will come from recycled or biobased sources. Since 2020, Elsève bottles have been manufactured using 100% recycled plastic and are 100% recyclable.
• Reducing Volumes of Packaging – one of the simplest ways to improve sustainability in food packaging is to remove unnecessary packaging components, such as individually packaged fruits and (find other examples of this). Removing these materials isn’t only beneficial for the environment, they maximise the freshness of the foodstuffs too. For example, Tesco introduced a quadruple strength squash, to replace the double concentrate product, in order to reduce the volume of plastic utilised.
• Refillable Packaging – there is an increase in the volume of reusable food packaging, particularly in the retail and beauty sphere. For example, L’Oréal have set a 2025 objective to ensure all plastic packaging is refillable, reusable, recyclable, or compostable. By taking this approach, they aim to cut total packaging weight by 52%.

Let our team help you find sustainable packaging & label materials

Are you looking for a trusted sustainable packaging or label materials manufacturer, then look no further. With over 170 years’ experience, we’re able to provide the best solutions and materials to meet your business requirements.  If you are interested in hearing more about our premium packaging solution, EcoPack, speak our team of experts today.