Healthy packaging that protects individuals and communities throughout its life cycle is safe packaging.

Although short and concise, this requirement, proposed by the Packaging Ethics Charter Foundation as fundamental in packaging design, introduces many things that can be found among the objectives of the FAO, which on 7 June 2019 has set up a day dedicated specifically to food safety.

World Food Safety Day aims to raise the attention and awareness of consumers and producers about food safety throughout the production and consumption chain, for the health of everyone involved.

Food accessibility and security is a critical challenge for humanity: food shortage and consumption of contaminated or spoiled food hinder the economic and social development of every nation.

In particular, the Day focuses on:

1. awareness that safe raw materials and production processes affect health, sustainability and cultural advancement.
2. the fight against hunger, to ensure that everyone has adequate food.
3. public health: good food safety is essential to reduce the risk of disease and promote general well-being.
4. sustainability, a primary goal to ensure a healthy and proper diet over the long term.

What role does packaging play in food safety?

The delicacy of food concerns both perishability and human consumption. Most food products retain this characteristic throughout their life cycle: from production to consumption. It is therefore essential that every stage of the food chain is taken care of, a chain in which packaging plays an important role: to create a safe bridge between the moment of production and the moment of consumption, guaranteeing the preservation of the product's integrity.

The choice of materials: double protection

The primary role of food packaging is therefore to protect in two different directions: inwards, protecting the product's integrity and freshness, and outwards, ensuring that consumers do not incur any risk when consuming the packaged food. The packaging must therefore be suitable and resistant to guarantee the least possible alteration to the contents, both during transport and storage, preventing physical damage, contamination and alteration due to external factors such as oxygen, humidity, light, heat and micro-organisms.

To reduce the risks listed above, good packaging must use materials that

1. prevent migration of substances between food and packaging
2. prevent external gas exchange or, for more delicate foods, the penetration of light
3. respect the quality of the contents, i.e. that are controlled and certified to keep the food intact and safe for consumers.

How to recognise a safe and suitable material for your food?

Certifications are the only guarantee for a safe choice of material. Different foods, depending on their own characteristics, can be aggressive towards containers, extracting substances that can be harmful to the individual or trigger allergic reactions. The container must therefore be manufactured according to the requirements of the European Community and must be subjected to specific tests to prove its reliability with regard to the food it will contain: for example, fatty foods must be contained in specific packaging that is specially tested.

Packstyle packaging is delivered to the customer together with the food conformity declaration document, which certifies that the packaging complies with European regulations by highlighting the tests that have been carried out. From Packstyle's website, on each of the material pages, you can download the certifications to simplify producer controls and make the production process transparent. A short while ago we dedicated a video to this topic, which you can watch here.

Beyond design: the safety of customisation

Food safety also passes through proper information. Packaging in fact provides the fundamental information so that once in the hands of the consumer, the food inside is kept intact, consumed without danger and disposed of correctly. The expiry date, storage and cooking instructions, and the possible presence of allergens are therefore indispensable.

In addition to the essential information just mentioned, a safe product is wrapped in packaging that contains nutritional details, ingredients, product origin, quality certifications and manufacturer information, enabling consumers to make informed purchasing decisions based on their needs and preferences. Making a package 'talkable' exponentially increases its safety.

This is why fully customisable packaging has become a necessary security tool. While attractive and appealing design influences consumer choice and attracts attention on shop shelves, clear and correct information lowers safety risks.

Packstyke has always encouraged customers to take this double value of customisation into account, inviting them to come up with a design that is as creative as it is safe, and to use multi-graphics (multi-graphics video link) to diversify information, making it as specific as possible for each product.

From this point of view, we can highlight three advantages of Packstyle packaging.

1. Being totally customisable in its graphics, it provides all the information necessary for the correct storage of the food, so that it remains safe in the consumer's hands.
2. Packstyle packaging can also be ordered from as few as 50 pieces and delivered within a few working days, thus encouraging a quick change of information, without wasting packaging and consequently money.
3. Customised printing completely eliminates the use of chemical solvents in the production process, thus reducing environmental impact, improving job security and the safety of the customer who comes into contact with the packaging.

From individual to global: security for the environment

As mentioned, FAO also considers sustainability as a concept embedded in security. Indeed, it is only through conscious and sustainable choices that a future in which everyone has access to safe, nourishing and sufficient food while preserving the environment for future generations can be ensured. Furthermore, security and sustainability are based on protecting and promoting the well-being of people and the environment.

Packaging must therefore also work to develop new ways of packaging products without waste and in a sustainable manner through the choice of materials with little impact on the environment. At Packstyle, research has been directed towards the production and refinement of packaging in recyclable materials, such as the new transparent and metallised recyclable films that have passed the recyclability tests carried out by Interseroh+ with success, conforming to European standards. Furthermore, Packstyle has chosen to use 100% renewable energy for its production facilities, taking the future of our planet Earth at heart.

A safe supply chain: worker safety

Workers also play a key role in the food supply chain: the final production of products and packaging depends on their work and the environment in which they work must be healthy and safe. Here again, certification bodies come into play to check and ensure that safety concerns everyone involved. For example, ISO 45001 certification is an international standard that specifies the requirements for an occupational health and safety management system and aims to preserve the health of both employees and external personnel.

Packstyle obtained ISO 45001 certification because safety is always at the top of its list of objectives, not only to ensure correct packaging, but above all to ensure that it is produced safely by the company's workers.

Safety, and especially food safety, protects individuals, avoids accidents, reduces costs, and improves people's lives: it is a commitment to social responsibility that the Ethical Charter, together with its ambassadors, has taken to heart in order to spread a more conscious culture of individual, community and environmental well-being.

*1 Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations