Beyond the Wrapper: The critical role of food packaging in safeguarding every bite

Food packaging isn’t just a wrapper, it's a crucial layer of protection that ensures the safety and integrity of what people consume. Today, consumers are eating a lot of packaged food all around the world, and India is no exception. When you look at packaged food, it's not only the food that is important, it's the package that contains the food is also extremely important. Packaging safety plays an important role in consumer health.As you look at packaging development around the world for the last few decades, we have drifted further towards safety best standards in food packaging. The work of the Indian food regulators is certainly noteworthy breaking new ground and contending with the European best standards in food packaging safety.

In India, the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India collaboratively are working towards protecting consumers from potential health risks associated with unsafe packaging materials and practices. For example, the Bureau of Indian Standards has decided to ban the use of a toxic solvent, Toluene in food packaging in 2021 supported by FSSAI. Mr. Ashish Pradhan, President Asia, and Member of Group Executive Committee, Siegwerk, details the continuously evolving field of food packaging safety.

It is crucial for consumers to understand that food packaging has an immense impact on overall food safety. Historically, a lot of the awareness hasstemmed from scandals in food safety over the past several years. There was a huge scandal in Europe around ITX, which was found in baby milk. Even in India, we have had a scandal relating to packaging in the past relating to several food products.

In addition to food packaging companies, Ink manufacturers must also carefully formulate their products to ensure that the chemical composition is safe for use in food packaging. This includes avoiding substances that could leach into the food and cause contamination. Food packaging ink manufacturers, in specific, must develop inks that meet regulatory standards.Siegwerk, a leading packaging ink manufacturer, has invested heavily in getting state-of-thought technology into India. An avid advocate for packaging safety and sustainability, and with a large centre of competence which employs the best of chemists and infrastructure, the company is focused on compliance and food packaging safety.