Machining to strengthen food packaging requires food to be safer

The process of establishing food safety
In the concept of promoting the development of food safety, the most important between process control and finished product testing is prevention rather than detection. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points were discovered by Professors NASA and Pillsbury in the study of foodborne diseases in 1960, and they were able to effectively vomit astronauts in zero gravity space. Therefore, this process combines multiple obstacles to the growth of microorganisms and careful monitoring of the process to eliminate potential hazards to ensure that product problems are within acceptable limits. Although the HACCP system is a mandatory regulation for specific industries, most of them are aimed at the food industry.

The seven principles in the HACCP system are summarised as follows: Perform hazard analysis, identify critical control points, establish critical limits, establish monitoring methods, formulate corrective actions, establish data records, save files, and establish validation procedures.

In January 2011, this principle was signed into law by the United States Food Safety Act. Its purpose was to prevent contaminated food from entering the market. The HACCP plan is a core component of this program, designed to prevent an outbreak of food safety incidents instead of responding. The outbreak of foodborne diseases has affected our confidence in the industry as a whole. We hope that our efforts will enable the food safety program to be widely used. Although there are initial costs, companies will have long-term profitability and survivability.

Choose the right package

Primary packaging, where packaging is in direct contact with the product, is the key to food safety. Unless proper packaging protection is used, any treatment is ineffective. Hot-processed foods, such as canned packaging or aseptic packaging (packages of family-planned products are usually handled in a short period of high temperature environment), sealed packaging is the key to food safety. Drying, fermentation, natural foods, and processed foods all require good packaging sealability to protect them. The safety of food is usually based on the hazard of the food. However, malnutrition caused by illness or more severe symptoms of hunger is usually not included in the category of food hazards. This is the most reasonable explanation for food safety.

Packaging can extend shelf life, help protect nutrients and ensure that food can be safely and adequately transported to remote areas. This is an important part of food safety.

In 2005, a HACCP plan from farmland to table was proposed as an effective and reasonable means to ensure food safety. The definition of "danger" has been raised to the fact that food cannot be eaten by humans and it cannot sustain life. The Food Packaging and Security Alliance has developed HACCP standards for various packaging materials. These criteria can all be derived from HACCP control principles for packaging materials. HACCP adds the following principles: analyzes the entire distribution chain, determines the food loss (nutrition or quantity) for each mechanism, assesses the mechanisms that can be controlled, establishes limits, and follows HACCP principles. The added principle extends to the distribution environment of other components, including the status of storage facilities, loading and unloading, modes of transport, and the environment.

Control food loss

There is growing recognition that the control of processing, processing, packaging, storage and transportation may reduce global hunger and increase global food production. In May 2011, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) submitted its report to the United Nations to prepare a conference on food preservation at the International Packaging Association. In the first report, the percentage of "global food loss and wasteful food" was 33%, reaching 1.3 billion tons per year. The second report, Packaging Solutions for Developing Countries, described the role of packaging as reducing food losses. From FAO's position at the World Food Summit: After five years, the overwhelming majority of efforts to tackle hunger are based on improving agricultural production. At a seminar sponsored by the United States, the presidents of three African countries submitted reports that the yield of transgenic seeds was increased by 500%. After the seminar, the French Minister of Agriculture confirmed that the infrastructure of Ghana cannot afford the food loss. Therefore, increasing production does not increase the supply of food in proportion.

The shelf life or useful life is the length of time that the product can be used after it has been dispensed. Taking bananas as an example, the bananas are green for several months and they appear mature and yellow in the last few days. Growth hormone promotes fruit ripening, and ethylene can maintain banana stability until sales. Exposing bananas to one part per million ethylene restores its maturation. As a result, we can guarantee bananas throughout the year and bananas in those specific markets are all close to the same maturity. The shelf life does not begin with the primary packaging but runs through the entire distribution chain.

Transport packaging is an important part of food circulation. In a study in Sri Lanka, 22% to 28% of fresh produce packed in traditional burlap was lost on the way to the “green” market in Colombo. The cause of the loss is the hole in the pavement and other dangerous roads causing the bottom of the bag to be crushed. Restricting the stacking of containers can reduce losses to 5%. The plan to increase the quantity of finished goods through safe packaging can meet consumers' demands better and faster without waiting for the next harvest season.

Food losses cannot be partially or completely controlled due to various reasons. Losses generally mean that products cannot be sold after the product is mature, products are broken or unusable, food production is surplus, or the sense, shape, and size attributes of products based on food regulations are not good for health. These problem products cannot flow into the market.

Impact of restrictive regulations

The initiative to establish a global, uniform food safety regulation was finally achieved through a network of scientific organizations. The purpose is to emphasize that food legislation should be based on scientific risk assessment and try to harmonize the different rules set by national governments and international regulatory agencies. GHI’s expectation is to eliminate regulatory differences and attract private sector investment in food safety R&D, thereby strengthening the competition between the food supply and food supply sectors across countries. Coordinating global regulations to facilitate the application of new technologies and promoting the food industry's investment in this technology to ensure that consumers are provided with safer, high-quality products. This result will promote the development of food safety.

FAO's report on food loss stated that the difference between the world’s food losses in developed and developing countries often involves financial, regulatory, and food-distribution technology restrictions between farmers and consumers. Food losses and waste are mainly related to consumer behavior in developed countries and lack of coordination among different actors in the supply chain. Surprisingly, in the FAO study, industrialized countries have more per capita food waste than developing countries. It is estimated that the per capita food waste of consumers in Europe and North America is 95-115 kg per year, and this figure is in the Sahara. Only 9-11 kg are in the south of Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Some food losses in developed countries are insecure according to regulations. As mentioned above, some unscrupulous marketing methods are forbidden, such as product size, shape, color defects and some wasteful practices. An example proposed at a food preservation conference is that the European Union prohibits the sale of curved cucumbers, so farmers cannot harvest and sell crooked cucumbers. After the EU revoked this rule, supermarkets still refused to buy bent cucumbers, so farmers could only discard the curved cucumbers.

The generation of waste is caused by the behavior of the retail industry, catering industry, hotel units and consumers. For example, in supermarkets, there are still a variety of baked goods for consumers to choose from on the shelf near the time of closing. Unsold foods will be a waste of food. Restaurants, banquets, and hospitality services usually provide more food than needed, and consumers discard foods often at the best date of consumption, although these products are absolutely safe. The most effective way to reduce these losses is through education and good practices.