In order to be stored, distributed, sold and consumed, food needs packaging that contains it.
All materials intended to come into contact with food must guarantee the absence of transfer of their chemical components, resistance to transformations that may be caused by some natural components and the property of not modifying the nutritional and organoleptic characteristics of the food.
Glass is the main material used for the preservation of food products.
Its physical properties are such as to make it irreplaceable in most of its uses: it is transparent, it's a excellent insulator, has a low coefficient of thermal expansion, but above all it is chemically inert, a feature that makes it resistant to atmospheric agents, most acids and external agents.
The main strengths are: impermeability, chemical inertia, hygienic guaranteesas well as the great versatility and the total recyclability (100%).
Chemical inertia, essential for the container intended to contain food, also protects against infectious risk: it avoids the passage inside the container of microbes from the environment naturally led to contaminate food, a favorable ground for their development.
The weak points are, however, the fragility and costs for production and transportation.
Glass, thanks to his countless qualities which the resistance to high washing temperatures of the voids, the essential strength for their filling, the perfect reclosability, the guarantee of non-absorption of flavors and odors, is one of the best products safe from a sanitary point of view.
Despite the wide availability of alternative materials for food packaging, such as PET water bottles, milk cartons, plastic jars for yogurt, glass has retained a central role even in the minds of consumers.
Recent studies confirm that, from the point of view of safety, glass is at the forefront of e guarantees the absence of any significant interaction and alteration of the food.
Nowadays glass is the only packaging to which a value is recognized in terms of health guarantee, responding more easily to Community provisions, and therefore contributes to the protection of the health of citizens-consumers.
It can therefore be said that, based on current knowledge, glass does not release and does not absorb toxic substances, even in conditions of exposure to non-ideal environments and temperatures.
Among the various types of packaging, glass jars closed with metal capsules, as well as guaranteeing the safety of the product, constitute an attractive package for the consumer, who can visually evaluate the product to be purchased.
Chemical inertia, impermeability to liquids and gases and stability are the characteristics that make glass a millenary material, container prince for the hygienic and lasting preservation of any food.
Source: Assovetro.it - https://www.alimentibevande.it/
