How to Choose the Suitable Paper for Food Packaging
Essential Factors for Selecting the Right Paper Material for Food Packaging: Ensuring Safety, Sustainability, Cost Efficiency, and Functional Performance
Written by : Doris Date: 2024/07/20
Selecting the appropriate paper material for food packaging is a critical decision that impacts the safety, sustainability, and functionality of your products. In today’s market, where consumers and regulators are increasingly focused on environmental responsibility and food safety, it’s essential to make informed choices. Whether you’re packaging snacks, ready-to-eat meals, or beverages, the paper you use can influence everything from compliance with health standards to the overall consumer experience.
This guide will walk you through the key factors to consider when choosing the suitable paper for food packaging, ensuring your products meet safety regulations, environmental standards, and performance needs while maintaining cost-efficiency and enhancing your brand image.
- Food Safety and Compliance
- Environmental Sustainability
- Functionality and Performance
- Cost Efficiency
- Brand Image and Consumer Perception
- Innovation and Differentiation
1. Food Safety and Compliance
**Ensuring Safety with Food-Grade Materials**
Food contact safety is paramount in food packaging. The paper used must comply with local FDA regulations, meaning it must pass tests to meet the local FDA standards. Besides paper material, other components such as ink, glue, varnish, and materials used in some food packaging, like window film and coatings (PE, PLA, or aqueous), must also be food contact grade. The entire process, from raw material storage, production, packing, loading, to delivery, should be strictly controlled under systems like GMP production environment and HACCP. A BRC certification is an excellent indicator of a factory’s quality system and environmental control.
Elempack’s facility adheres to the highest standards of safety and quality, including the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards, with BRC, ISO9001 certificate. These systems are meticulously monitored and controlled to ensure that every step of the production process meets the strictest safety and quality standards.
2. Environmental Sustainability
**Eco-Friendly, Recyclable, and Sustainable Requirements**
With growing awareness of environmental sustainability, the material for food packaging must be eco-friendly. Options like FSC-certified paper, Bamboo paper, and materials without coating (such as PE, OPP) are preferred.
Such as High bulk board, due to its higher thickness, less weight, and better rigidity, leading to reduced paper usage, making it both cost-effective and environmentally friendly. High bulk white board material can reduce paper usage by about 15% compared to normal white board.
FSC certified paper is more and more common used for paper packaging, by choosing FSC-certified paper, consumers support markets for sustainable products, encouraging more companies to adopt environmentally friendly practices.
Another good option is bamboo paper, by combining rapid growth, low environmental impact, and efficient resource use, bamboo presents a more sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to traditional wood pulp paper.
3. Compostable Regulation by Local Government
Many countries and regions, such as the EU, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, are implementing gradual plastic bans. These regulations require packaging materials to be compostable, meeting both commercial composting and home composting standards set by organizations like Australia ABA and EU DIN. With these demands, PLA and aqueous coatings on paper to replace plastic coatings or laminations are emerging rapidly in recent years.
ElemPack offers suitable material solutions to meet these regulations and provides additional options such as cellophane paper to replace PET window film and compostable glue, making your food packaging more compostable and distinctive.
4. Cost Efficiency
**Balancing Cost and Functionality**
Cost is a crucial factor when choosing paper for food packaging. The material’s cost, along with suitable options or replacements, should be considered to achieve economic efficiency while meeting packaging function requirements. As food packaging experts, we provide the best material proposals based on your needs and offer various packaging designs to reduce material usage and cost.
5. Functionality and Performance
**Meeting Functional Needs**
Different paper materials have varied features and functions. Different foods and their unique usage, delivery, or storage requirements necessitate different packaging needs. Below is a summary of various paper materials and their attributes to help you choose the suitable paper material for your unique food packaging:（Just for reference only）
| Paper Tyep | Coating | gsm Range | Suitable for Packaging | Compostable | Greaseproof | Heat resistance | Microwavable | Ovenable | Freezable |
| Kraft Paper | No | 18g – 180g | Paper Bag, Paper Wrap, Corrugated Flute Packaging | Yes | No | 130℃ | Yes | No | — |
| PE Coating Paper | PE Coating | 28g or above | Paper Bag, Paper Wrap, Box | No | Yes | 105℃ | No | No | Yes |
| PLA Coating Paper | PLA Coating | 30g or above | Paper Bag, Paper Wrap, Box | Yes | Yes | 150℃ | Yes | No | Yes |
| Aqueous Coating Paper | Aqueous Coating | 30g or above | Paper Bag, Paper Wrap, Box | Yes | Yes | 150℃ | Yes | No | Yes |
| Paper with OPP lamination | OPP Lamination | 30g or above | Paper Bag, Paper Box, Corrugated Flute Packaging | No | Yes | 105℃ | No | No | Yes |
| Paper with PET lamination | PET Lamination | 30g or above | Paper Bag, Paper Box, Corrugated Flute Packaging | No | Yes | 220℃ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Silicon Paper | Silicon Coating | 30g – 50g | Baking Paer | Yes | Yes | 250℃ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Waxed Paper | Wax | 28g – 50g | Wrap | No (except Soy Wax) | Yes | 80℃ | No | No | Yes |
| Foil Paper | Foil Lamination | 46g or above | Paper Bag, Paper Wrap, Paper Box | No | Yes | 130℃ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ovenable Paper | No | 30g – 50g | Baking Paper | Yes | No | 220℃ | Yes | Yes | — |
| Kraft Board | No | 180g – 400g | Paper Box, orrugated Flute Packaging | Yes | No | 130℃ | Yes | No | — |
| Flute Corrugated Board | No | 200g – 600g | Carton, Tray, Pizza Box… | Yes | No | 130℃ | Yes | No | — |
Choosing the right paper for food packaging is crucial for ensuring safety, sustainability, functionality, cost-effectiveness, and enhancing brand value and consumer experience. As a professional food packaging manufacturer, Elempack is dedicated to providing you with the suitable food packaging solution with our wide range of products, excellent experience, and service. Our food packaging solutions ensure enhanced safety, eco-friendliness, compostability, cost-efficiency, unique design, and required functionality to best meet your specific packaging demands.
