Looking at the big picture, the plastic packaging industry will continue to have favorable development trends, with food packaging being one of the key growth areas. As quality of life improves, food packaging needs diversification to meet the varying consumer demands of modern people, which necessarily drives innovation in food packaging materials.
Danish food packaging specialist Faerch Plast recently received a European patent for its recyclable packaging material Mapet II — made from amorphous polyethylene terephthalate for meat, poultry, and fish products — earning widespread praise. The material was developed for advanced sealed packaging of fresh meat, poultry, and fish, eliminating the risk of leakage or contamination during transport.
Holfeld Plastics, a subsidiary of Waddington Europe, won the World Star Packaging Award for food contact for the second time, for its Hydrozorb H-PET material. This pioneering alternative to styrene-based plastics combines lightweight, low-carbon r-PET with organic and inorganic fillers, transforming the properties of traditional r-PET while retaining all the commercial advantages of PS with no adverse environmental impact.
Aseptic packaging accounts for a large proportion of food packaging. Over 70% of liquid food uses aseptic packaging globally, with over 100 billion carton aseptic packs consumed annually. As the economy develops and living standards improve, demand for convenience food will grow significantly, further driving the development of aseptic packaging.
Green packaging — defined as packaging that is non-polluting to the ecological environment, harmless to human health, and recyclable — has become a necessity. Experts predict that green food will dominate the world market within the next 10 years, with green packaging serving as the passport for green food products among consumers.
With the rapid advancement of packaging technology, a series of innovative packaging products with unique functions have been developed. The convenience of food packaging is an increasingly important trend — using light energy, chemical energy, and metal oxidation principles, food can now achieve automatic heating or cooling in a short time, catering to outdoor workers, travelers, the elderly, and children.