On the safety packaging of food 0

On the safe packaging of food

with the progress of society and the improvement of people's living standards, the nutrition and safety of food have attracted extensive attention from all walks of life, especially food safety. However, the food safety that people pay attention to is often considered from the safety of food itself, while ignoring that the safety of food packaging has the advantages of high efficiency, energy saving and high cost performance. Since 2005, food safety problems caused by food packaging have emerged in an endless stream, ranging from "PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic film carcinogenic storm", "disposable tableware pollution incident" to "Nestle liquid baby milk contaminated by packaging and printing ink has been recalled in many European countries". It can be seen that reifenhuser extrusion technology company caused by food packaging has emphasized the role of energy, power, reliability, protection and maintenance, operation, design and functionality, and food safety issues can not be ignored. This article focuses on the safety of food packaging

1food, food packaging and food safety

1.1 food

Article 54 of the food hygiene law of the people's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the food hygiene law) stipulates: "food refers to all kinds of finished products and raw materials for human consumption or drinking, as well as articles that are traditionally both food and drugs, but do not include articles for the purpose of treatment."

1.2 food packaging

food packaging refers to the use of appropriate packaging materials, containers and packaging technology to wrap food, so that food can maintain its value and original state during transportation and storage. Food packaging includes two meanings: packaging materials and packaging technology

1.3 food safety

China has not yet defined food packaging in legal form. Some researchers believe that "food safety refers to a state in which food related products do not cause real or potential harm to human health, and also refers to various management methods and measures taken to determine this state". Food safety has a broader meaning than food hygiene. Food safety is a concept that emphasizes the whole process prevention and control from farmland to table, and emphasizes comprehensive prevention and control. In 1996, the World Health Organization pointed out in "ensuring food safety and quality: guidelines for strengthening national food safety control system": food safety refers to the absence of any risk of acute or chronic damage to human health, which is an absolute concept. Other researchers understand from the provisions of the food hygiene law: food safety refers to that food should be non-toxic and harmless, meet the nutritional requirements, have corresponding sensory properties such as color, aroma and taste, and meet the corresponding standards

1.4 relationship between food packaging and food safety

from the definition of food safety, food safety covers food related products; Food packaging is called "special food additive". It is the last process of modern food industry and has become an integral part of food to a certain extent. Obviously, there is an inseparable relationship between food packaging and food safety

food safety, in addition to the safety of food itself, also depends on the safety of food packaging to a large extent. That is, food safety cannot be separated from food packaging safety

2 main factors affecting food packaging safety

there are many factors affecting food packaging safety, among which the main factors are: safety problems caused by non-standard production of food packaging materials (containers); The relevant national food packaging standards and regulations are not perfect, and the supervision of relevant national institutions is not effective; Unreasonable food packaging design; Food packaging safety testing methods are not perfect

2.1 safety problems of food packaging materials (containers)

packaging materials refer to "the general term of materials used to manufacture packaging containers and constitute product packaging" (gb/t4122.1-1996), which includes raw materials such as paper, plastic, metal, glass, ceramics, adhesives, coating materials and other auxiliary materials

the safety problem of packaging materials mainly comes from the migration and dissolution of toxic and harmful components inside the packaging materials to the packaged food. These toxic and harmful components mainly include: toxic elements in the materials, such as lead, arsenic, etc; Harmful monomers in synthetic resins; Various toxic additives and adhesives; Toxic components in auxiliary packaging materials such as coatings. The main reason for unsafe packaging materials (containers) is that their production is not standardized. Some food packaging production enterprises only pay attention to the fastness, strength, appearance and price of packaging materials, and do not pay enough attention to the health and safety of packaging materials, which makes the safety of packaging materials have great hidden dangers

2.2 imperfect food packaging laws and regulations, imperfect management

imperfect national food packaging standards and regulations, as well as weak supervision by relevant national institutions, have given some illegal food packaging manufacturers an opportunity to take advantage of the fact that the production date is not marked on the product packaging of some foods, and the packaging methods and packaging labels of products do not comply with the regulations at all, which is bound to cause safety problems in food packaging

2.3 unreasonable food packaging design

some food packaging has not been strictly and scientifically designed, so that the packaging loses the function of protecting food. Some food packaging enterprises overemphasize the visual effect of packaging and ignore the protective function of food packaging, so that in the process of food storage and transportation, packaging can not stop the erosion of food by microorganisms, harmful substances in the atmosphere and other environmental pollution sources, resulting in food pollution or deterioration, which can not achieve the expected effect of packaging, and some food has deteriorated or polluted before the shelf life

2.4 food packaging safety testing means are imperfect

China's food packaging safety testing means and testing equipment are far behind developed countries. Usually, the detection needs to be carried out by special detection machines and large-scale instruments and equipment, and the detection cycle is generally long, lacking simple and easy detection means and fast and efficient detection equipment, which makes most food packaging safety detection impossible. This is also a factor causing food packaging safety problems

among the above four main factors affecting food packaging safety, the safety of packaging materials has the greatest impact

3 safety problems of commonly used food packaging materials (containers)

in the past, Chinese people paid less attention to the potential impact of packaging materials on food hygiene and safety and on the earth's environment. Therefore, the hygiene and safety quality of packaging materials in China still lags far behind the world's advanced level. Food safety problems caused by the health and safety problems of food packaging materials occur from time to time. At present, most food packaging materials still do not have applicable health standards, which to a large extent caused the insecurity of some food packaging materials. The following is a detailed analysis of the safety of the most commonly used food packaging materials

3.1 paper

paper packaging materials occupy a very important position in food packaging because of their series of unique advantages. In some developed countries, paper packaging materials account for 40% - 50% of the total packaging materials, and China accounts for about 40%. The national standard has provisions on the hygienic indicators, physical and chemical indicators and microbial indicators of food packaging base paper. Pure paper is hygienic, non-toxic, harmless, and can be decomposed by microorganisms under natural conditions, without pollution to the environment. However, in the process of paper processing, especially using chemical pulping, paper and paperboard usually have certain chemical substances left, such as alkali liquor and salts left in the sulfate pulping process. Therefore, all kinds of paper and paperboard must be correctly selected according to the food in the package to avoid the impact on food safety caused by the residue dissolving into the food. In addition, paper packaging materials are difficult to seal, and their fastness will decline after being affected with moisture, and they are easy to crack under external force. Therefore, when using paper as food packaging materials, special attention should be paid to avoid food packaging safety problems caused by lax sealing or broken packaging

3.2 plastics

plastics is a kind of high molecular material made of high molecular polymer resin as the basic component, plus some additives used to improve its performance. As a rising star of packaging materials, plastic packaging materials have become the fastest-growing packaging materials in the world in recent 40 years because of their rich raw materials, low cost, excellent performance, light weight and beautiful characteristics. The disadvantage of plastic as a food packaging material is that some varieties have health and safety problems and the environmental pollution caused by the recycling of packaging waste. The health and safety problems of plastic packaging materials are mainly manifested in the migration and dissolution of toxic and harmful chemical pollutants left inside the materials, resulting in food pollution. The main sources of these toxic and harmful substances are as follows: (1) the resin itself has certain toxicity; (2) Residual harmful monomers, pyrolysis products and toxic substances produced by aging in the resin; (3) Toxicity caused by additives such as stabilizers, plasticizers and colorants added in the manufacturing process of plastic products; (4) Contamination of microorganisms and micro dust impurities on the surface of plastic packaging containers; (5) Some pollutants attached to plastic recycling and pigments added with lightweight solutions of modern removal tools can cause food pollution. Among them, the residues and migration of harmful monomers, oligomers and additives in plastics are the main aspects that affect food safety. Some time ago, the General Administration of quality supervision, inspection and Quarantine of the people's Republic of China (AQSIQ) found that some PVC fresh-keeping films contained DEHA (ethylhexylamine) plasticizer, which was not within the scope of use allowed by the national standard, thus causing a "carcinogenic storm of PVC fresh-keeping films". In fact, PVC fresh-keeping film with additives permitted by national standards and the dosage within the specified safety range is safe and non-toxic. In addition, when plastic packaging materials are used as food packaging, they should also pay attention to resistance to biological invasion. Plastic packaging materials can generally resist the invasion and penetration of environmental microorganisms without notch and pore defects, but because the strength of plastic is much lower than that of metal and glass, it is difficult to resist the invasion of insects, mice and other organisms. Therefore, when selecting plastic packaging materials, special attention should be paid to ensure that packaged food is free from biological invasion and pollution in the storage environment

3.3 metal

metal packaging materials are one of the traditional packaging materials, which have been used in food packaging for nearly 200 years. Metal packaging materials are processed into various forms of containers with metal sheet or foil as raw materials for food packaging. Due to the advantages of high barrier, high and low temperature resistance and easy recycling of waste, metal packaging materials are more and more widely used in food packaging. The biggest disadvantage of metals as food packaging materials is poor chemical stability, acid and alkali resistance, especially when they are used to package highly acidic food, they are easy to be corroded, and metal ions are easy to precipitate, thus affecting food flavor. Therefore, it is generally necessary to paint the inner and outer walls of metal containers. Inner wall coating is an organic coating coated on the inner wall of metal cans, which can prevent the contents from contacting directly with metal, avoid electrochemical corrosion, and improve the shelf life of food. However, the chemical pollutants in the coating will also migrate to the contents during the processing and storage of cans, causing pollution. Such substances include BPA (bisphenol-A), badge (bisphenol-A diglycidyl ether), NOGE (phenolic varnish glycerol ether) and their derivatives. Bisphenol-A epoxy derivative is an environmental hormone, which enters the body through canned food, causing endocrine imbalance and heredity