Busy families are always in need of solutions that suit their lifestyles on-the-go. The variety and ease of frozen foods provide solutions for every meal, whether it is providing a meal for unexpected guests, adding a fresh vegetable on the side or preparing appetizers. Advanced frozen food packaging materials help customers to enjoy out-of-season favorite foods while reducing waste and increasing long-lasting freshness. Packaging engineers need to consider a wide range of material options that enable them to create unique frozen food packaging with eye-catching design capabilities and finishes that satisfy the needs of the brand.
For packaging frozen foods, plastics are widely used as their characteristics not only maintain the quality of the end product, but are lightweight and make it easily accessible, as well as being able to withstand high cooking temperatures. Producers also benefit from solutions that are flowable and moldable, chemically inert and cost-effective through the use of plastics. In particular, plastics’ barrier properties are a vital consideration, as they will determine how well the material acts as a physical barrier to any external factors, such as light, oxygen or moisture, that could be detrimental to the product. The correct material can prevent the drying out of frozen food and helps preserve its nutritional value, taste, texture and color.
Therefore, good frozen food packaging materials should be moisture-resistant, sufficiently durable to withstand heavy drop weights, leak-proof and able to prevent food dehydration and degradation throughout its shelf life. Excellent temperature stability is also vital because if the product needs to be reheated in its packaging, the material needs to withstand both extremely low temperatures during transport and storage, as well as extremely high temperatures.
Of course, the environmentally friendly advantages of buying frozen food are somewhat negated if the plastic packaging of the food ends up in a landfill. Fortunately, advances in flexible packaging technology have provided manufacturers with a variety of new options for environmentally friendly packaging of frozen food. A key consideration for frozen food manufacturers is film choice. It not only increases visual appeal and tells customers what’s inside, but it also plays a key role in protecting the content and can even improve the product’s convenience. Frozen food products have very specific features that will influence the choice of packaging materials.
Packages should be protective against light and air to prevent product degradation, as with all foods that are stored for significant periods of time. Failure to do so can lead to the product’s loss of nutrients, as well as’ freshness’ or perceived quality. And when it comes to thawing, to avoid leakages, packaging materials should be liquid-tight. Therefore, when packaging these types of goods, the choice of the packaging material and the thickness of the packaging film are important attributes.
In the frozen food industry, packaging films are typically based on multiple layers of different polymers, although single-layer films are available. By combining various laminates, depending on what is required in terms of barrier properties, sealability, printability and overall appearance and feel of the bag, it is possible to achieve specific film functionalities.
For example, in order to protect the contents from fluorescent lighting in some freezers or to hide the ice crystals typically surrounding frozen foods, some producers may want to present their product in opaque or colored bags.