Food packaging

• Food packaging


  Materials such as glass, metal, paper and plastic used to package food
• Functions of food packaging

  • Protects food from becoming damaged or contaminated, ensuring consumers buy products in the best possible condition
  • Makes the transport and storage of foods easier, as foods can be stacked on top of each other
  • Advertises a food product, making it more appealing to the consumer, increasing sales and profit
  • Provides consumer information, e.g. cooking instructions and nutritional information, to help consumers make informed food choices
  • Can preserve food, increasing its shelf life, reducing food waste and risk of food poisoning
• Characteristics of good food packaging

  • Hygienic and safe
  • Increases shelf life
  • Sustainable, e.g. biodegradable or recyclable
  • Hard-wearing and tamper-resistant
  • Moisture- or vapour-proof
  • Easy to open and reseal, e.g. pull rings on steel cans
  • Economical to make
  • Attractive, e.g. has eye-catching colours and clear logos
• Glass


  • Protects food from contamination
  • Easily moulded into a variety of shapes and sizes
  • Available coloured or transparent, so contents can be examined
  • Can withstand heat processing without cracking
• Paper


  • Protects food from contamination
  • Easy to stack for convenient storage
  • Can withstand heat processing
• Metal (aluminium and steel)

  • Protects food from contamination
  • Can withstand heat processing
• Plastic


  • Protects food from contamination
  • Easy to stack for convenient storage
  • Can withstand heat processing
• Levy on plastic shopping bags: introduced on 4 March 2002. Its primary purpose was to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags. It has led to a reduction in plastic bag usage from approximately 328 bags per person in 2001 to approximately 14 bags per person in 2014.
• Landfill levy increase: on 1 July 2013 the landfill levy was increased by €10, making it €75 per tonne. The increase was introduced to encourage Irish people to recycle and move away from using landfills for disposing of household waste.
• Ways consumers can reduce the environmental impact of packaging

  • Use a travel mug when visiting a coffee shop
  • Buy fresh, loose fruit and vegetables instead of packaged produce
  • Buy large volumes of food instead of individually packaged items
  • Bring reusable shopping bags when shopping
  • Choose eco-refill products, e.g. Kenco coffee
  • Use a compost bin for food and paper waste so that waste can biodegrade and be used as compost
  • Buy products in recycled packaging, e.g. Kellogg's cereals
• Modified atmospheric packaging (MAP)


  A food-packaging method in which the proportions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen in the package are different from those in normal air. This slows down the growth of bacteria, yeasts and moulds that spoil food, enhancing the food's shelf life.
• Foods packaged using MAP include meat, cheese and salad leaves. Once opened, these foods should be treated as fresh, and used within two to three days.