Mitigating Risk through Food Packaging

Historically, the main function of food packaging has been to safeguard food by providing a physical barrier to help maintain food and beverages in a sanitary condition. Over the years, advances in food packaging technology have resulted in packaging that provides additional protection and other benefits. These more recent innovations include susceptors to aid in the browning of foods cooked in microwave ovens, oxygen scavengers/emitters, ethylene scavengers, time-temperature sensors, and biosensors that can help to prolong shelf life and/or monitor the condition of food.  In fact, it is clear that over the past 100 years or more, packaging technology and food processing equipment has been a major contributor to the manner in which food products of all sorts safely reach the dinner tables of Americans and people throughout the world, while lessening the environmental footprint of this industry. Indeed, even in these days of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that “[T]here is no evidence of food packaging being associated with the transmission of COVID-19.”

The U.S. and other jurisdictions around the world have implemented food packaging regulations to assure that packaging materials are safe for use and that no off-odors or tastes are imparted from the packaging to food or beverages. And as technological advances in food packaging provide improvements in food quality and safety, some of the regulations governing the composition and use of food packaging regulations have been changed to accommodate these advances. This article will focus on U.S. food laws governing food packaging materials and revisions to those laws necessitated by technological advances. First, though, we provide a brief description of the manner in which food packaging is regulated in the U.S. and the information that is required to assure the safety of food contact materials.

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