The reason manufacturers and consumers trust plastic to package and deliver food safely are straightforward: it works.
Daily, food packaging through plastic delivers real advantages to millions of consumers all over the globe. In fact, it’s popularly known that plastic packaging shields food to help people keep healthy and safe.
Plastics used by food plastic packaging manufacturers in food packaging have long been valued. The reason is they are inert, strong, and even waterproof. These are critical features that enable food packaging to complete its job.
Food packaging involves a wide array of products, from the plates, cups, and utensils used to serve food, to the packaging that cushions food during storage and transportation.
It is quite unfortunate when news agencies miss the mark by not telling the whole story when it comes to the safety of plastics food packaging materials. What’s absent (often) is an explanation of how plastic materials are evaluated for safety before they are marketed to consumers and their contributions towards food safety.
So, how can consumers perceive fact from fiction? Following are three T’s to know when it comes to plastic food packaging. These T’s are: Tested. Tried. Trusted.
Tested
Plastic food packaging is reviewed for safety by the FDA.
Consumers should and must be confident enough in the safety of plastic food packaging. Review by FDA of plastics regarding contact with food specifically considers the probability for migration (or the plastics mixing with the food) before making a safety determination.
A few stories have made frightening claims recently regarding specific types of plastic food packaging.
It is crucial to remember that the FDA regulates substances strictly that come in direct contact with food. These regulations include those mentioned in recent news stories like epoxy resins and polycarbonate made with BPA, as well as polystyrene. The FDA has already determined for decades that this stuff is safe for use in food contact.
The FDA website replies to the key question: “Is BPA safe?” with only one word: “Yes.”
FDA has released the outcomes of comprehensive research, one of the widest studies ever conducted on BPA. The results of the study were published in peer-reviewed scientific literature.
The lead researcher of FDA said that the results of this study “extend and support the conclusion from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that BPA is safe as currently use” concerning plastic food packaging.
Test data back in 2013 identified that the shifting of styrene from polystyrene foodservice products is below significantly than the safety limits set by FDA itself – 10,000 times less compared to FDA’s acceptable daily consumption. Other regulatory agencies have reached similar conclusions.
Tried
Consumers have relied on effective and affordable plastic food packaging for years.
Also, today’s effective modern plastic packaging continues to maintain the freshness of foods for longer with less waste, less material, and increasing opportunities to recycle.
Plastic foam foodservice packaging helps keep our food fresh, hot or cold, and ready to eat. Foam plastic insulates extremely well to maintain food temperature, so we can enjoy food the way it’s meant to taste – and keeps our fingers from burning if the food or beverage is hot.
Polystyrene foodservice provides crucial sanitation benefits too in schools, nursing, cafeterias, homes, and hospitals. These are the places where we need to keep germs and bacteria to a minimum.
Trusted
Who will not want a shatter-resistant bottle that breaks easily or a coffee cup, which prevents your fingers from burning?
We all want and appreciate it when delivery or take-out food reaches home at the temperature that was intended. Also, we all enjoy the benefits of canned foods that deliver affordable and safe food consistently.
Last Word
Regulatory agencies, scientists, and consumers repose on plastic food packaging due to its effectiveness and safety. This rust is continued for more than 50 years. In fact, current research by organizations around the world continues to substantiate these claims.
