By Kenneth S. Marsh, Ph.D., CPP
PACKAGING
Packaging for Enhanced
Food Security
Ihave been asked to launch this new column to communicate the latest advances and trends in packaging, spoilage and stability of packaged foods. This column will typically cover trends among the sophisticated food packaging players in the developed world, primarily the U.S. and European Union
(EU), and typically involve high technology. I will leave
these discussions to subsequent contributors, but I wish
to present that the trend to replace absent or ineffective
packaging with more protective food packaging is more
significant to the growth of the packaging industry than
any particular new development. The combination of
increased food protection and the continuing trend for
proactive food processing control (maintained with
packaging) offers unprecedented potential to increase
global food security.
Food security is achieved by people acquiring a safe,
adequate and appropriate food supply. “Safe” is absence
of hazard; “adequate” is sufficient in both calories and
nutrients; “appropriate” relates to taste and ethnicity (
especially important when offering food aid to other
countries in response to emergencies, i.e., using readily
available food).
New column focuses on critical
food packaging safety issues.
space was to be avoided—accentuated
with the potent image of an astronaut
vomiting in zero gravity. The goal, therefore, was to eliminate potential hazards
through a combination of multiple barriers to microbial growth and careful in-process monitoring to ensure that
critical processes remained within acceptable limits. Although HACCP was
mandatory for specific sectors, it was
voluntary for most of the food industry.
The seven principles of HACCP are
likely known to readers of this column,
but are summarized here as a basis for
extensions below:
1. Conduct a Hazard Analysis (hazards
to consumer)
2. Determine the Critical Control
Points
3. Establish critical limits
4. Establish monitoring procedures
5. Establish corrective actions
6. Establish verifying procedures
7. Establish documentation procedures.
The U.S. Food Safety Modernization
Act was signed into law January 2011,
with the aim to prevent contaminated
food from entering the marketplace.
HACCP programs are a central component of this approach. The goal is to prevent outbreaks rather than respond to
them. Since outbreaks of foodborne disease impact the confidence in our entire
industry, I applaud efforts that bring
proven food safety programs into more
widespread use. They have initial costs
but add long-term profitability and
viability.
Establishing Processes for Safe Food
A significant development in the promotion of food
safety was the concept of process control versus sampling of finished product, that is, prevention rather than
inspection. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
(HACCP) was developed in the 1960s by NASA and
Pillsbury from the realization that foodborne disease in
Where Does Packaging Fit In?
Primary packaging, that is, packaging
in direct contact with the product, is
critical to the success of any food processing effort. Any processing is ineffective unless appropriate packaging
protection is employed. With thermal
processing, be it canning (filling an unsterile metal, glass, polymer or laminate
container with an unsterile product, sealing that container and heat-processing
