1. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES PACKAGING
To understand why food needs to be packaged.
To look at the different materials used for food packaging.
To understand the environmental implications of packaging.

2. Why do you think we need food packaging?
There are 5 main reasons, can you think what they might be?

3. FUNCTIONS OF PACKAGING
The main purposes are to:
Transport
Inform
Preserve
Protect
Promote

4. TRANSPORT
To make it easier to carry food either from the factory to the shop or from the shop to home.

5. INFORM
We will look at this in more detail when we talk about labelling in the next lesson.

6. PRESERVE
Canning prolongs shelf life by removing oxygen and then heating the can and its contents to very high temperatures to kill off bacteria.
Vacuum packaging prevents bacteria that need oxygen contaminating the food.
Modified-Atmosphere Packaging (MAP). Food is put in plastic bags or containers, and a mix of gases (oxygen, carbon dioxide & nitrogen) is pumped in to prolong the shelf-life until the package is opened.

7. PROTECT
To protect the product from accidental or malicious damage (where someone damages the product on purpose)

8. PROMOTE
To make the product more attractive to the consumer so they want to buy yours and not another one.

9. YOUR TASK In your kitchen pairs:
You are to produce a presentation about your packaging.
Your talk should include information about
Transportation – does the type of packaging help?
Information – does it give lots of information?
Protection – how does it protect the product?
Preservation – how does it preserve the product?
Promotion – how well do you think it promotes the product?
You will have 10 minutes to prepare

10. To get top marks
Your talk should be clear and informative, brief and to the point
It should explain why your food product has been packaged in the way it has. Use the 5 reasons for packaging as headings
Include information about the material the packaging is made from (there is information in your kitchens to help you)
Make comparisons with other products if that helps

11. How you will be marked
I will pick 4 groups at random to give their presentation so you must all be prepared
Each group will be assessed by the rest of the class
Was the presentation clear? (Did you understand it)?
Did it cover all the necessary points?
Did you learn anything?
We will use your planners for scoring
Green page Yes
Yellow page Sort of
Red page Not really

12. THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF PACKAGING
Food packaging makes up a huge percent of the waste that ends up in landfill sites.
It cannot always be recycled.
It cannot always be reused.
It is not always biodegradable.
It uses up natural resources (oil, metal, trees)
It’s production causes air, land & water pollution

13. GREEN PACKAGING
Green packaging causes less damage to the environment than other forms of packaging - it is 'environmentally friendly'. There are three types of green packaging.

14. REUSABLE PACKAGING
Can be cleaned and re-used to store the same food or something else.
Examples are glass and some plastic.

15. BIODEGRADABLE PACKAGING
Easily breaks down and disappears into the soil or the atmosphere, without causing damage.

16. Glass, some plastic, metals, card & paper.
RECYCLABLE PACKAGING
Made from materials that can be used again, usually after processing, for packaging or some other purpose.
Glass, some plastic, metals, card & paper.

17. WHAT DO YOU THINK FOOD MANUFACTURERS SHOULD DO TO REDUCE THE ENRIVONMENTAL IMPACT OF PACKAGING?
Use recyclable and biodegradable materials
Ensure consumers know what is recyclable
Use less packaging
Stop pointless packaging
Make packaging lighter weight or thinner

18. WHAT DO YOU THINK WE CAN DO?
Choose products that have no packaging, or come in recyclable or biodegradable packaging
Recycle as much as we can. Currently we recycle 33%, but 70% is recyclable.
Buy single larger sizes of a product rather than lots of smaller ones (e.g. yoghurt)
Use our own shopping bags, not plastic bags

19. Is your packaging recyclable, reusable or biodegradable?