Analysis of the Impact of Packaging Materials on Food Safety

[China Packaging Network News] "People use food as their food and food as safety as their first priority". Food safety has always been closely linked with people's lives. With the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, consumers’ awareness of food safety has gradually increased. Food packaging is an important part of food processing. With the continuous progress and development of science and technology today, the types of food packaging materials are also becoming increasingly diverse. At the same time, food safety accidents caused by packaging materials are also emerging, forcing people to pay attention to the safety of food packaging materials. This article mainly discusses the impact of packaging materials on food safety and proposes some solutions.

Food Packaging Security Status

Food packaging is the last process for modern enterprises to process foods. It uses proper packaging materials, containers and packaging techniques to wrap foods to ensure food quality and safety. Food packaging can prevent the food from being damaged by biological, chemical, physical, and other external factors during the circulation of the food from the factory to the consumer, so as to maintain the original ingredients and nutrition.

Food packaging mainly includes two aspects, one is the choice of food packaging materials, and the other is the use of packaging technology, and the choice of food packaging materials is particularly important for food safety.

Due to the relatively early start of the foreign food industry, the research on the safety of food packaging materials is relatively complete. Foreign scholars have conducted in-depth studies on the issues related to the migration and toxicity of small-molecule contaminants in paper, plastics, and metal cans. China's food industry started relatively late, people have less awareness of the safety of food packaging, and food packaging standards also have many deficiencies. In recent years, a series of food safety problems caused by packaging materials have emerged in China, such as the instant noodles bowl “excessive fluorescent substances”, kitchen utensils “manganese excessive standards”, explosions of Coke cans, etc., making the safety of food packaging materials a hot topic of concern. .

The source of harmful substances in food packaging materials and its effect on food safety

At present, China is allowed to use more food packaging materials, mainly paper, plastics, metals, glass and ceramics.

1) Impact of paper packaging materials on food safety

Paper, as the most traditional packaging material, has a low packaging price, good production flexibility, easy molding and decoration, convenient storage and transportation, and is widely used in people's daily life. People often make paper into paper bags, cartons, paper tubes, paper cups, paper tubes and other containers to package foods. However, paper packaging materials also have some potential safety hazards.

Some of the paper packaging materials are produced from waste paper. During the collection of raw materials, there will be some mildewed paper. After production, a large amount of mold and pathogenic bacteria will be produced. The packaging used for food will spoil the food. At the same time, the recovered paper may contain lead, cadmium, PCBs and other harmful substances, which can cause people dizziness, insomnia, forgetfulness and even lead to cancer.

Some food factories do not use food packaging inks when using paper food packaging materials. These non-specific inks mostly contain toluene and other organic solvents, which may cause excessive benzene solvents in foods. The toxicity of benzene solvents is relatively large. Skin or blood vessels can endanger the body's hematopoietic function, damage the body's nervous system, and even cause leukemia.

It is usually necessary to add some additives, such as sizing agents, bleaching agents, dyes, etc., to the pulp during the papermaking process. For example, papers treated with fluorescent whitening agents contain fluorescent chemical contaminants, which are highly soluble in water and very easy to migrate into the body. When the fluorescent bleach enters the body and is absorbed by the body, it is difficult to decompose, making the burden on the liver worse. At the same time, medical experiments have confirmed that fluorescent substances can mutate cells. If they are exposed to excessive amounts, they may have carcinogenic effects.

2) Impact of plastic packaging materials on food safety

Plastic packaging materials are widely used in the food industry. About 60% of food packaging uses plastic as packaging material. Plastic is a kind of high-molecular polymer, which is composed of polymer resin and various additives. It has the advantages of convenient transportation, light weight, easy processing and good food protection. The impact of plastic packaging materials on food safety mainly includes the resin itself and additives.

The resin itself is non-toxic, but the monomers, degradation products and toxic substances produced by aging have a greater impact on food safety. For example, vinyl chloride monomer used to produce cling film, if not fully polymerized into polyvinyl chloride in the production process, residual vinyl chloride monomer will become a source of contamination. Vinyl chloride monomer has anesthetic effect, can cause the body's blood vessels to absorb the limbs and produce pain, it can cause cancer, teratogenic.

In the past, bisphenol A milk bottles were everywhere in shopping malls. Bisphenol A is a raw material for many kinds of polymer materials such as polycarbonate and epoxy resins, and it is common in plastic packaging. In the case of heating, BPA can be incorporated into foods. It may disturb the metabolic process of the human body, affect the development of the baby, the immune system, and even cause cancer. Therefore, according to national regulations, since June 1, 2011, the production of polycarbonate and other bisphenol A-containing feeding bottles has been banned.

Additives such as adhesives are often used in the production of plastics. The adhesive is mainly composed of aromatic isocyanic acid. The plastic bag made of this material can form aromatic amines after high-temperature cooking and is a carcinogenic substance. Because plastics are easy to recycle, they are often used repeatedly. If the recycled plastic materials are used directly in food packaging, it will have a great impact on food safety.

The recycling channels for plastic packaging are complex, and it is difficult to ensure that the residual hazardous substances on the recycling containers are clean. Some manufacturers add a large amount of paint to recycled plastics, resulting in a large amount of pigment residues and contaminating the food. At the same time, because of poor supervision, some medical waste plastics will be recycled and used, which will also become a considerable food safety hazard.

In addition, stabilizers, plasticizers, and colorants added during production and processing are not easily shut off due to their own quality, and they easily migrate out of the plastic and cause secondary pollution. This is also one of the factors that endanger food safety.

3) The effect of metal packaging materials on food safety

Metal materials have the advantages of high barrier, high temperature resistance, easy recovery, etc., and are also one of the traditional packaging materials. Its disadvantages are mainly poor chemical stability and acid and alkali resistance.

Metal packaging containers can be divided into two categories, one is non-coating metal, the other is coating metal.

The safety of non-coated metal packaging containers is mainly due to the dissolution of toxic and harmful heavy metals; the safety of coated metal packaging containers is mainly due to the dissolution of free phenol, free formaldehyde and toxic monomers in the coating applied on the surface. Iron and aluminum are the two main types of metal packaging materials currently used in the market. The most common ones are tinplate, tinplate, aluminum and aluminum foil. After the galvanized layer contacts the food in the iron product, the zinc will migrate to the food and cause food poisoning. The main problem of the aluminum product is aluminum, which contains lead, zinc and other elements. Excessive intake may cause chronic accumulation of poisoning.

4) Effect of glass packaging materials on food safety

Glass is widely known as a food packaging material. According to its chemical composition, glass can be classified into soda lime glass, lead glass, borosilicate glass, and the like. Its advantages are non-toxic and odorless, good chemical stability, hygienic cleaning and weather resistance, but the high transparency of glass is unfavorable to certain contents of foods, and it is easy to produce chemical reactions, thereby producing toxic substances. However, relatively speaking, glass packaging containers are relatively single toxic substances, mainly lead, arsenic, antimony, and usually its migration to food is very low, and less harmful to humans.

5) Effect of ceramic packaging materials on food safety

China is the oldest country for ceramic products, and its research is at the forefront of the world. The main problem of ceramic packaging materials is the glaze and lead and cadmium content of the ceramic surface. Long-term studies have shown that lead, cadmium contained in various color glazes will dissolve into foods and cause harm to human health.

The solution to the problem of food packaging safety

1) Establish and improve safety related regulations for food packaging materials

At present, many of the laws and regulations implemented by the food packaging industry in China were formulated in the early 1990s. Basically, these regulations do not address the benzene residue, migration, and some of the indicators of heavy metal content. Therefore, relevant departments should update and improve the relevant safety regulations and standards for food packaging materials in light of the development of food packaging in China, such as food packaging material additives, adhesives, and composition of ink components, food labeling systems, food packaging materials, and The market access system for appliances, etc., establish and improve the safety and security system for food packaging materials.

2) Development of new packaging materials and packaging technology

Traditional packaging materials have high costs and poor safety factors. Therefore, functional packaging materials have become a hot topic in Western countries. The United States, Japan, and the European Union have invested large amounts of funds and manpower in this regard. According to the prediction of experts, in the future, packaging bags produced with intelligent packaging technology will account for 20% to 40% of the total number of food packaging. The trend towards functionalization, intelligence, and environmental protection of food packaging materials is a general trend. The research and development of new packaging materials must be the focus of future development, such as modified atmosphere packaging, antimicrobial packaging, nano-composite packaging materials, etc., through new packaging materials and technologies to improve the safety of food packaging.

3) Improve food packaging inspection system

Due to the different molecular structure of the packaging materials, various additives and different molding processes, the food packaging materials show greater differences, so the detection of food packaging materials is more complicated. We can establish a complete food packaging testing center and test the performance characteristics of various packaging materials according to national standards. At the same time improve the detection technology to find fast and efficient detection methods to improve the level of detection of toxic and hazardous substances such as residual monomers and heavy metals in food packaging.

Conclusion: The food packaging materials are closely related to the safety of foods. For example, ink problems in paper packaging materials, monomer residues and additives in plastic packaging materials, heavy metal residues in metal packaging materials, etc., all have great impact on food safety. influences. To ensure the safe packaging of food, it is necessary to establish a sound food packaging safety regulations and standards, develop new packaging materials and packaging technologies, and improve the corresponding detection system, so as to reduce the safety problems caused by food packaging materials and maximize food packaging. The important function - protecting food.