When it comes to frozen food packaging, you need to be sure that safety is your first concern. Besides that, you will have to choose the appropriate materials that can withstand freezing temperatures. Depending on your budget, packaging, and material needs, frozen food packaging is a dynamic process that requires the utmost attention to detail.
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We have been providing food packaging for decades here at Industrial Packaging, and we often get questions about the different types of packaging materials for frozen food applications. In this article, we will explore the different kinds of packaging supplies that are best suited for packaging frozen food.
What Are The Important Elements Needed In Frozen Food Packaging?
First of all, what is frozen food packaging?
The most popular options for frozen food packaging often includes but is not limited to cardboard, metal cans , paperboard, wax coated paper and other flexible packaging supplies. One of the most popular forms of frozen food packaging is Polyethylene (PE) shrink film which is able to resist temperatures all the way down to -40 degrees.
Here are some features of frozen food packaging materials:
Protection from spoilage and off coloring
Easy to fill
Easy to seal
Easy to store
Moisture blocking and resistant
Made of FDA food-grade substrates
Strong
Doesn&#;t become brittle and crack at low temperatures
Resists grease, oil, and water
Each of the items above relates to the essential aspects of packaging frozen foods. The materials listed below all meet these requirements regarding various formulations of each material. When packaging frozen foods, safety, nutritional labeling, and consistency is vital.
What Are The Different Types Of Frozen Food Packaging?
Shrink Film
Wax Coated Cardboard
Glass
Aluminum
Flexible Bags
Lidding Films
- High barrier thermoforming film
- IQF polyethylene
- Skin film
Below, we will explore each type of frozen food packaging mentioned above and explain the applications and uses of each kind of material.
1. Shrink Film For Frozen Food Packaging
Shrink film (also known as shrink wrap) is one of the most popular forms of frozen food packaging. It is used on millions of packaging lines across the globe, including those of the largest food packaging companies in the world. Shrink film is a plastic film that is commonly made out of one of three main formulations, including polyethylene, polyolefin, or poly-vinyl-chloride.
When it comes to food packaging, polyolefin is your best choice. Polyolefin shrink film is FDA food-safe approved and can also be made kosher. Polyolefin shrink film is perfect for sealing boxed frozen foods such as pies, pizzas, cakes, baked goods, vegetables, fruit, and almost every other type of frozen food.
As you can see in the video above, polyolefin shrink film is used in the packaging of frozen steaks. This is a common frozen food packaged with shrink film. The box will be wrapped in shrink film and run through a heat tunnel to shrink the film to the box. This helps to prevent the formation of vapor or moisture and also helps to prevent freezer burn.
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2. Chipboard SBS (Cardboard) For Frozen Food Packaging
Chipboard (commonly thought to be cardboard) is ubiquitous in the packaging of frozen foods. Boxes made from chipboard are often used for packaging pies, veggies, pizza, cakes, and various other types of frozen food products. Chipboard boxes are sturdy, durable, and easy to shrink wrap. They also allow for easy unitizing on pallets for shipping across the country.
Commonly used in tandem with shrink film, chipboard boxes are also popular because they can be printed, edge-to-edge, with vibrant and colorful branding imagery, text, and graphics.
This makes for chipboard boxes to be very visually appealing to consumers. Most often, a full graphic of the food contained inside of the box will be printed on the cover to entice consumers and induce a sense of hunger.
You can see various examples of this by walking down your local supermarket's frozen food aisle and inspecting the different products that are contained within chipboard boxes. As they are also FDA approved and food-safe, chipboard boxes make for an excellent choice when it comes to frozen food packaging.
3. Wax Coated Cardboard For Frozen Food Packaging
Wax coated cardboard is yet another highly popular form of frozen food packaging. Specifically for frozen foods of which the container itself is to be heated. For example, a popular application for waxed coated cardboard containers is frozen Chinese food.
The wax-coated cardboard containers are heat resistant and can be placed directly into the microwave and heated until the food inside is cooked and ready to eat.
The trays used for TV dinners and other pre-made frozen meals often utilize a wax-coated cardboard tray for this same reason. The trays are often sealed with shrink film.
The consumer will remove the tray from a shrink film sealed cardboard box, poke holes in the film on the tray and place the tray into a microwave. The food is then cooked for the amount of time listed on the side of the container.
Wax coated cardboard boxes, trays, and other shapes of containers are popular because of their strength, diversity, and heat resistant capabilities. Unfortunately, wax-coated cardboard is not recyclable and, most of the time will end up in a landfill.
4. Glass For Frozen Food Packaging
Next, we have Glass. While not as famous for packaging food in America, glass containers made from specific food-grade glass formulations are used for packaging for some food applications, particularly in Asian countries.
More commonly, glass containers are used here in the USA for storing unused portions of food or meals specifically made to save for future use in glass containers.
From a retail standpoint, using Glass is uncommon because Glass is a weighty material. Glass has an extremely high carbon footprint and is very costly to ship, particularly long distances.
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That being said, Glass is sometimes used for packaging luxury food items such as ice cream and gelato. In this way, Glass is often used as a form of luxury packaging for applications that have very demanding consumers who value luxury more so than the everyday customer.
5. Aluminum For Frozen Food Packaging
Aluminum is another standard frozen food packaging supply. Most commonly, aluminum foil pans are used for packaging food items such as lasagna, manicotti, salisbury steaks, and various other types of foods.
The top of the foil pans often features cardboard or waxed coated cardboard topper that slides on the top of the container and holds in place with foil tabs on each side of the pan.
The filled foil pans often end up packaged inside of the cardboard box, which is then sealed in shrink film. When opened, the cardboard box and topper are removed, and the aluminum pan is placed directly into the oven for cooking.
While aluminum is recyclable, it is often difficult to do so with used aluminum foil pans due to grease, food bits, and other leftover food items that are often hard to remove from the inside of the container. Scrubbing does not always result in a clean container, even with much effort. Because of this, aluminum foil pans often end up in landfills.
6. Flexible Bags For Frozen Food Packaging
Flexible bags are a type of flexible packaging supply made for packaging food. When dealing with frozen foods, the most common flexible bags used are pouches made from food-grade plastics, foils, or other food-safe materials.
These flexible pouches are often a variant of stand up pouches or pillow pouches. They are made specifically for frozen food applications such as the packaging of frozen vegetables, fruit, pre-made meals, pasta, and other types of frozen foods.
Some types of frozen food bags are completely clear with no or little branding aesthetics and are used for packaging frozen baked goods such as bread, rolls, and similar items.
7. Lidding Films
For Frozen Food Packaging
Lidding film is a plastic film that is used to create lids for different types of containers. The films are FDA approved and food-grade. Lidding films can be printed with high quality, full-color branding, and graphic design elements that will help to catch the attention of the consumer in the frozen food aisle. They are often also left clear for full visibility of the product contained within.
8. High Barrier Thermoforming Film For Frozen Food Packaging
High barrier thermoforming film is a special type of flexible packaging film. It boasts amazing thermoformability that allows for it the be the perfect solution for various applications. It is made from cutting edge plastic resins and made exclusively for these types of specialty films. This type of film offers thick corners and better film memory.
High barrier thermoforming films have superb strength and better puncture resistance. The film features ultra-glossy sheen and provides superior scent, taste, and ultraviolet light protection capabilities. These specialty films are available in a range of gauges.
9. IQF Polyethylene For Frozen Food Packaging
IQF stands for &#;individually quick frozen,&#; an action that freezes food extremely fast, so there is little to no damage to the cell structure of the frozen food. IQF polyethylene wrapped food moves through a blast freezer around 40 degrees under zero Fahrenheit. The finished food products are then sent to supermarkets frozen food sections.
10. Skin Film For Frozen Food Packaging
Skin film is a specialty film made to uniformly wrap products and seal the product to a printed skin board or corrugated cardboard plate. Skin film is commonly used for packaging salmon, trout, and other various types of frozen seafood.
How To Source Frozen Food Packaging
If you are interested in sourcing frozen food packaging for your business, feel free to reach out to one of our packaging professionals. We can help you to source the right frozen food packaging materials and machinery vendor, even if that is not necessarily us.
We would advise you to compare at least a couple of packaging companies and request information from each about their capabilities with frozen food packaging, machinery, and materials.
Once you have chosen a vendor, it would be well advised to bring them into your business and allow them to analyze your packaging line in person. This will give them the opportunity to provide you with a comprehensive proposal on which types of frozen food packaging machinery and materials are right for your products and your business.
Millennials prefer convenience. Be it chopped fruits, vegetables, dairy, or semi-cooked meals; frozen food comes up like a savior in this busy lifestyle. In fact, nutritionists believe that frozen food can actually be healthier than their off-season counterparts. But, what's most desirable is an effective frozen food packaging.
What Are the Suitable Frozen Food Packaging Materials?
While freezing, most frozen food products expand up to 9% depending on their moisture content. Therefore, frozen food packaging material needs to be strong and flexible to accommodate these changes.
Selecting the right packaging material for your frozen food is the key to the effectiveness of the product. The basic points to consider while deciding your frozen food packaging material are-
- It should be able to withstand freezing temperatures between zero degrees to -40 degrees.
- The visual appeal so that the customer gets to know your product well before consumption.
- Sustaining sealing, freezing, storage, transportation, and sometimes cooking pressure.
- Pack well the sharp edges (if any) of the frozen food product.
The common choices for frozen food packaging include tin cans, cardboard, laminated paper, and flexible and rigid plastic materials. Fresh vegetables, fruits, and dressed meat also use simple shrink wraps. Following are some of the popular frozen food packaging materials.
- Polyethylene (PE) film - PE films can withstand temperature as low as -40 degrees without compromising film quality. They also deliver good mechanical strength and puncture resistance during low-temperature transportation, handling, and storage. In addition, PE films are printable and can be layered for extra protection.
- PE derivatives - Different types of plastics like HDPE, LDPE, Polypropylene, etc. are used for making frozen food packaging. This include shrink wraps, rigid and flexible packaging, and also at times single-use disposable packaging. Plastic is desirable because it can withstand a wide range of temperature and provides insulation to the products from the outer environment.
- Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - PET can withstand abrupt temperature change. Hence, it is generally used for boil-in-the-bag or microwaveable frozen product packaging. Rigid frozen food packaging also uses PET derivatives.
- Cardboard and laminated paper - These are commonly seen in FMCG products like ice-creams, curds, fresh fruit juices etc. However, this packaging has a limited life after taking the product off from the freezer.
- Tin cans - Tin cans are the traditional frozen food packaging material. But, PET and PE are taking over metal cans because they are more economical. However, known brands still use tin cans to retain their brand identity.
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Packaging Hygiene
Hygiene is very important for frozen food packaging. Although deep-freezing prevents the growth of microbes, contamination is not good in the long run. Manufacturers can set cleaning machinery within packaging and assembly line. Following are some good practices for packaging hygiene.
Dry Wipedown
Moisture is home to many bacteria and fungi. Dry wipedown is a technique of cleaning the packaging and product with a microfiber cloth at room temperature. This not only cleans the item but also makes them dry and ready for packaging.
Low-pressure Cleaning
It is also known as soft-wash. In this technique, low-pressure nozzles spray distilled water or specialized solutions to wash off bacteria from the surface. Large manufacturing plants with in-house packaging and assembly line practice low-pressure cleaning. However, this method is advisable for medium and small scale frozen food manufacturers to enhance the shelf life of their products.
High-pressure Cleaning
High-pressure cleaning is applicable to the whole food items like packaging farm-fresh produces. Before packaging, fruits and vegetables are washed to prevent contamination through soil-borne bacteria. Generally, the package of high-pressure cleaning equipment for frozen food packaging includes spray nozzles, air-dryer, and hot/cold water setting.
For example, the SVC series of VFFS (vertical forming, filling, and sealing) technology from Bosch Packaging Technology incorporates the hygiene standards for frozen food packaging.
Frozen Food Packaging Labels
The basic mandatory label information according to FDA includes-
- statement of identity i.e the common name of the product
- net weight
- company name and address
- ingredients list including allergens
- nutrition facts
Refer FSSAI Packaging Regulations Checklist if need be for more information.
Freezer grade labels and printing are important while designing frozen food packaging labels. The frozen food is stored below zero degrees hence, the adhesives should also be capable of sustaining such low temperatures.
Some of the common labels for frozen food packaging are-
- Blank sheet labels with freezer adhesives coated on paper or vinyl stock.
- Vinyl sheet labels with laser printing can sustain ice cold water and high degree moisture.
- Blank roll labels - These are suitable for automatic label application for packaging frozen food. Thermal transfer, direct thermal, or continuous inkjet/laser are common methods for printing roll labels.
An important factor to note about frozen food packaging labels is that - the package surface is not always plain. They can be rigid trays or irregular surfaces of films, bags, heat-shrink films, or vacuum packs. Hence, before finalizing the type of label, one should also keep in mind the surface of the packaging. This information about types of printing on labels can be useful.
Sealing and Closures
Packaging closures are equally important as the packaging materials. High-quality seals ensure complete protection against the external environment and at the same time influence the visual appeal of the packaging. Although the type of sealing technology to use depends on the type of packaging film, here are some common methods to consider-
- Direct heat sealing - This system uses two jaws with a constant high temperature to seal the openings of a wide range of plastic packaging materials. It is suitable especially for thicker films like polypropylene.
- VFFS - Vertical forming, filling, and sealing technology is a package system of filling and sealing the frozen food packaging within the same production line. This method is generally deployed by medium to large scale manufacturers.
- Impulse heat sealing - This sealing system applies an electric current on impulse. A piece of wire is heated and cooled instantly once the sealing process is complete. Impulse heat sealing is a low-cost alternative to direct heat sealing method.
Apart from these, zip-lock closures and resealable pouches are gaining popularity in the frozen food sector because of the convenience they offer.
Image courtesy: www.swisspac.co.uk
A good quality zip-lock ensures sealing like protection for frozen food. Also, many manufacturers add zip-lock along with heat sealing at a distance for consumers&#; benefit.
The types of re-sealing mechanisms available for frozen food packaging are-
- Sliding zipper
- Hooded slider
- Press to close (PTC) zipper
What Are the Important Frozen Food Packaging Design Considerations?
Imagine a can of berries falling off your hands while taking them off from the freezer and putting them in your cart. Or, what if your hands become wet, you would not worry the water droplets might spoil the other items. Or, the worst of all, your product reaches the retailer in a distorted shape.
One way to look at is its the supply and store management responsibility. But, on the other hand, because of packaging, your product did not sell somehow. To prevent such situations, you can consider the following design hacks.
Convenient Design
- While designing packaging, instead of a plain surface, you can have patterns. Patterns create friction between hands and product, which avoids slipping.
- Another trick is to laminate the interior of the cardboard packaging for moisture resistance. Cardboard can absorb little water droplets formed due to the higher outside temperature.
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Sustaining Transit
Packaging goes through a lot during transit. Vibrations, jerks, temperature change, handling, mishandling, etc. are to name a few. Following tricks can help sustain your product while transferring from manufacturer to retailers.
- Filling the product just right. Luring customer with oversized packaging is something manufacturers should avoid. The right side of the packaging can help keep the items inside intact.
- Sealing the packaging properly can prevent spillage.
- Avoiding sharp edges in packaging design so that adjacent packets do not get tampered.
- Proper insulation: This can help the product withstand varying temperature and pressure during transit.
Visual Appeal
Most frozen foods are visible from the transparent refrigerator door. The packaging having color combination and graphics according to the target customer has a better chance of purchase.
For example, Chobani kids yogurt packaging contains vibrant colors and illustrative graphics. It is sufficient to make the kids curious and interested in the product.
Learn more on food packaging trends here!
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If you are looking for more details, kindly visit China OPP bag for packaging frozen meals.
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