3 Ways to Promote Food Safety With Packaging

FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- More than 100 years ago, a physician named Samuel Crumbine saw the need for more hygienic foodservice packaging at a train’s watering station. Passengers were drinking directly from a shared ladle. After one passenger with tuberculosis drank, Crumbine realized the entire train could contract the illness if they continued to drink from the water cooler. Crumbine spent the rest of his career raising awareness around public health and working to ban common drinking cups on trains. His work spawned the creation of the Health Kup, later known as the Dixie Cup.

Foodservice packaging’s legacy as a public health solution prevails today, Lynn Dyer, president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute based in Falls Church, Va., told CSP Daily News.

Check out how foodservice packaging has evolved to address today’s food-safety needs. ...

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Transparency does not just apply to food labels. After years of seeing tamper-evident packaging in retail, Dyer said today, she’s seeing more of those same safeguards in foodservice items. “People want to make sure the items are fresh,” she said. “Tamper evident and clear packaging that people can look in and see with their eyes might be something operators want to take into consideration.”

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In an industry where operators need to do a bit of legwork to assure shoppers that food is fresh, Dyer said she wouldn’t be surprised to see more temperature indicators appear in convenience store’s foodservice packaging. “Prepared foods no longer come from over the counter into someone’s hands,” she said. “It’s delivered by drones or Uber drivers, so you want to ensure proper procedures are put into place.”

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One of the simplest things operators can do to ensure food safety is test the packaging. “It might look pretty, it might come at a good cost, but test it to make sure it works with the food and beverages you want to use it with,” she said. Dyer recommends trying out packaging in hot and cold displays and communicating with packaging suppliers, which can test products in their test kitchens.

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