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The FoodPrint of Food Packaging
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You have checked the milk carton for an organic certification label. You’ve scanned the nutrition label on a can of beans, searching for an acceptable salt level. You’ve spent time finding eggs from hens that were pasture-raised. But have you noticed whether those eggs come in a cardboard carton or in a molded plastic container? Do you know what the milk carton is made of? Are you paying attention to what lines the inside of that can of beans?Get more news about Food Packaging,you can vist our website!
Ironically, though many of us are spending more time and money to eat the healthiest and most sustainably produced foods that we can find and afford, we frequently overlook the packaging in which this food is found. Shouldn’t our food packaging be just as good for our health and the planet as the actual food? We think so.Single-use food packaging is taking a huge toll on our environment. As our landfills and waterways are increasingly clogged with plastic bags, Styrofoam food containers, disposable coffee cups and more, it’s clear that the convenience of food packaging is outweighed by the waste and pollution that the packaging leaves behind. Something less widely understood is that this same food packaging, from the additives like phthalates which give plastics their pliability or perfluorinated chemicals that allow cardboard to contain liquids, all the way to the bisphenol linings that coat our aluminum cans, much of our food packaging is extremely dangerous to our health.
While it might be hard to imagine what daily life would be like without all this convenient packaging, until recently, much of it did not even exist. As our food system grew less local yet able to feed more people across a greater geographic area, and as food became more highly processed, the packaging technology itself increased to keep pace. And while packaging can be essential for certain functions, the industry has evolved with little concern for the environment or for human health.
Better packaging materials and better design could mean less waste and fewer harmful chemicals — and these are goals that can be achieved side by side. As consumers, we have an opportunity to choose the materials we feel most comfortable with and to ask companies and retailers to do better. We can also ask our government to enact stronger regulations around packaging and plastics. Most importantly, we need to re-think food packaging and single-use food service items, making human health and the environment the priority over convenience.