When choosing a packaging corporation, you look for more than just a diverse range of products and affordable pricing –although those are very important factors. Overall, you need food packaging and laminated films that are top quality. Without use of high quality materials, how is food supposed to stay fresh? Isn’t that the entire logic because packaging, to keep food fresh and protected against pests and outside elements?

When you order packaging from Northeast Packaging, you can rest easy knowing that it will never fall apart. It will never be ineffective. It will protect just as promised. That’s because Northeast Packaging takes the time to inspect all their products. Nothing leaves the company without being approved by quality control experts first to ensure it meets all standards. And by everything, we mean all the products. It’s not a one out of every ten products type of deal. It is with this level of high standards and quality that Northeast Packaging can hold a competitive edge over other companies.

So when you want something done right the first time and every time, exceeding your expectations, you know what company to choose. To learn more about the packaging products offered, visit NEPack.com today.

Not too long ago I talked about how I love stand up pouches for foods. They’re easy to reseal and store and are just overall incredibly convenient. But apparently I’m not the only one who thinks so. Many food companies are making the switch to pouches, such as Campbell Soup and Heinz. The decision is mainly driven by the savings on packaging and shipping costs. But it also has to do partially with aesthetics. It’s more visually appealing and looks more modern.

The technology used in stand up pouches has also improved, giving food nearly double the shelf life. Manufacturers have cut packaging costs about 10-15% on pouches. Pouches are being used across the board too, not just on snacks (while this remains quite popular). Everything from shampoo to pet food is being placed inside a pouch. Campbell is set to launch new flavors like coconut curry with chicken and shiitake mushrooms in a pouch this summer, hoping to create a more “edgy” look to soup. Heinz is looking to spruce up their ketchup with squeezable pouches that will sell for just 99 cents.

With so many possibilities, the sky’s really the limit with pouches and food. Think about what foods you’d like to see come in pouches instead.

Just last month  French lawmakers put a ban on BPA, Bisphenol-A, on food packaging. BPA is an industrial chemical that apparently mimics the female hormone estrogen. In studies performed, it has been linked to reproductive problems, prostate and other cancers, and issues with fetal brain development. With the recent ban in France, many are thinking the US will now be pressured to follow suit. The FDA will make a decision by the end of the month whether or not it will be banned on all our beverage and food packaging.

While the French ban will certainly have its effects on our export industry, the issue arose because of a lawsuit filed against the FDA by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The NRDC originally filed a petition for a ban to the FDA, which they ignored. The FDA is legally obligated to respond to written petitions within 180 days and because they failed to do so, a lawsuit ensued.

Bans on BPA originally begin a few years ago with baby bottles that were releasing the chemical. Several countries were quick to stop the problem, except a majority of US states. Several states have regulations against the baby bottles and several food brands are already using BPA-free containers. Now we simply wait until the end of the month to see the outcome.

Imagine creating a packaging product from start to finish. You came up with your own idea and pitched it to the fine people at Northeast Packaging. They helped bring your vision to life and now your product is finally packaged beautiful and is ready to hit the shelves. You take a look at one of the packages one last time before it gets shipped to stores and there it is: an error. You notice one of the ingredients listed is actually wrong. Or maybe the nutritional value information is incorrect.

Whatever the case may be, this is a big deal. You can’t have the wrong information on the product. Consumers deserve to have the correct information about the foods they buy. This isn’t some silly typo.  This is why it is crucial to check over all the info you want on snack packaging over and over again. Northeast Packaging can look out for typos, but it’s up to you to send them the right details. Scrapping all that packaging and redoing it will be a costly process. Instead, get it right the first time. It’s better to check ten times than have it wrong. Can you afford to do it wrong the first time?

As a consumer, I normally don’t think too deeply about my food packaging. Well, it’s more of a subconscious thing actually. I don’t spend hours thinking about it, but when a package is frustrating to open or doesn’t seal in the freshness, I get upset about it. But as I ate some trail mix while at work, I quickly realized that stand up pouches are really awesome. I’ve had this trail mix on my desk for 2-3 weeks now and it’s still fresh thanks to the zip-lock seal.

Any food packaging with a seal always makes me happy. It means I don’t have to waste a chip clip or worry about placing the food in another container (Elf cookies, I’m glaring at you). I just spent several dollars on this food and I want it to last. I can’t eat an entire box of cookies in 2 days. Americans waste hundreds of dollars a year on spoiled food each year.

Another reason I love the stand up pouch is that it takes up less space. Whether the food is on my desk or stored in my cabinets, I have more room to stores other items. Fresh, compact food that I can take anywhere is convenient and just plain awesome. If your food can fit into a pouch, it’s a worthwhile choice.

Leave it to a Harvard genius to take a leap forward and create food packaging that you can actually eat. Professor David A. Edwards already become a science superstar after creating inhalable chocolate and caffeine, as well as a tuberculosis vaccine in the form of a spray. The latest from this biomedical engineer is WikiCells. The goal? To use less plastic. WikiCells allows people to easily transport their food without the leftover garbage. Edwards says the idea originally came while trying to create “nature’s bottle.” His example, grapes.

This form of natural food packaging would be an edible membrane around the food or liquid much like that of a grape or an eggshell. A few food packages already designed by Edwards and his team include a tomato membrane encapsulating gazpacho soup, an orange membrane filled with orange juice (naturally), a grape-like membrane housing wine, and a chocolate membrane holding hot chocolate. Edwards would like to see his “invention” developed at a commercial level one day. He hopes to expand WikiCells to specialty stores and supermarkets.

A world with less plastic? Now that’s something to think about. But for now, we must work with what we’re given and be smart about using less plastic and recycling whenever we can. Check out the laminated films and stand up pouches offered at Northeast Packaging.

I recently learned that the United States creates over 34 million tons of food waste a year. That’s a staggering number to say the least. Food waste doesn’t just include the scraps of leftover broccoli your child couldn’t finish. It also includes the laminated film and flexible packaging some of that food was originally housed in. Sometimes we can’t always avoid throwing both food and its packaging out, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a difference in our buying and eating habits.

A lot of that plastic or cardboard will not be salvaged and it will sit in landfills for years and years creating methane that will seep into the atmosphere. Start by only purchasing what you need for the next few days. It’s better to make a few trips a week and get only what you need than to stock up on too much that will quickly expire. Use better quality storage containers to keep food from spoiling so it doesn’t end up in the weekly garbage pile. Lastly, try to recycle any packaging that you can. New York State is pretty strict about this and even if your town isn’t, you should separate as much recyclable material as you can. For instance, toss out the crumbs out of the cereal box and recycle both the plastic and the cardboard.

Every little step helps!

In an effort to reduce their carbon footprint left behind, British retailers were asked to cut down on their supply of food and food packaging waste. Thousands of tons of fruit, veggies, milk, and yogurt are thrown away each year because they’re rejected for being the wrong size, shape, or standard. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is embarrassed,  of course, since there were able to meet or exceed other government requirements to lessen their impact on the environment. They succeeded at diverting waste from landfills and reducing domestic food waste.

The BRC estimates retailers are responsible for 3.5% of the UK greenhouse gas emissions. The goal is to reduce product and packaging waste by at least 5%. Currently they’re producing around 6.6 meter tons, costing them about 5 billion British pounds. The environment secretary stated, “It’s important all concerned build on this and work to create a green economy, by finding innovative ways to minimize waste, introduce resource efficiency measures, use water and raw materials more sparingly.”

Although the commitments are voluntary, about 52% of the retailer sector signed up for the pledge. This is great news for the environment, naturally. It’s always a shame when both food and food packaging goes to waste. Hopefully the UK, and the rest of the globe, can implement better plans to ensure we’re wasting as little as possible.

Last week we discussed the importance of nutritional labels. They are supposed to make us aware of the value in our foods so we can make healthy and smart decisions before buying. With that said, it appears that many people around the world don’t even know how to read nutritional labels. People around the globe were surveyed and more than half of consumers admitted to being confused by the labels, with the highest confusion rates are in Chinese-speaking countries.

About half of the respondents claimed they are trying to lose weight and change their dietary habits. But that’s awfully hard to do if food packaging labels is confusing you.  Thankfully North Americans had the best grasp of food labels. About 58% said they “mostly” understood what they were reading, compared to 49% of Canadians. That’s quite reassuring!

Some respondents even said they were skeptical about the accuracy of the health claims. The Journal of American Dietetic Association suggests that the labels be placed in the center of packages to gain the attention of consumers. A US study discovered people thought they were reading the labels more than they actually were. It’s important that this information is clearly placed on food packaging and that it is easily understood. Is your packaging clear?

For those of us concerned about our health and weight, it’s instinctual for us to flip over flexible packaging and look at the nutritional facts. And that’s actually an excellent habit. With rising rates of obesity, you cannot afford to nonchalantly toss food into your shopping cart.  Part of the the reason behind this habit is that people are almost scared to know. They know cookies are bad for them so it doesn’t matter how many calories are in this specific brand. It’s a way of not facing the facts, the health facts!

If you’re still willing to indulge in a box of cookies, the least you can do is compare the calories and fat from one brand to the next. When snacking on unhealthy foods, it’s better to choose the lesser of two evils. You might shave off some calories in you look closely. But what everyone really needs to do is make it a reflex to automatically turn over food packaging and consider the health benefits of what is in front of you. There is a reason all foods must present this information. It’s so you can make an informed decision and hopefully the better decision. You don’t have to forgo cookies your entire life, but at least make an attempt to lessen your intake and make better food choices.