Food barrier packaging: Top 10 material & application innovations

Achieve superior package performance with ExxonMobil's fully recyclable Polyethylene

ExxonMobil Chemical’s has used its state-of-the-art performance Exceed™ and Enable™ resins to make a fully recyclable 95% Polyethylene (PE)-based thermoformed food barrier package. The remaining 5% of the package materials include a Kuraray EVAL™ grade Ethylene Vinyl alcohol (EVOH) for oxygen and moisture barrier, a maleic anhydride grafted Linear Low-density Polyethylene (LLDPE) for EVOH to PE adhesion, slip, and antiblock additive masterbatch to improve film processing and machinability. The goal of this innovative product is in keeping with the current, fast evolving industry refocus towards sustainable, circular packaging. 

  

ExxonMobil Chemical’s PE and EVAL™ EVOH resins provide superior package performance in terms of puncture resistance equivalent to higher-priced Polyamide (PA or nylon) thermoformed film. 

Additionally, their Exceed™ XP PE resin maintains uniform package corner thickness after thermoforming. Equally important, PE package functionality in terms of oxygen barrier and optical clarity are competitive to PA (Nylon) thermoformed films. A Machine Direction Oriented (MDO) PE lid film is central to the package design.

 

The above mentioned thermoformed rectangular tub cheese package and its accompanying lid film operate over a broad thermoforming and hermetic sealing temperature window. Reifenhauser extruded film provides superior machinability, which allows it to operate at high production rates on Multivac R245 forming and filling machines.

 

Improve light- and moisture-barrier with Kuraray’s seed-shell reinforced PVA biofilms

Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) manufactured by Japan’s Kuraray Co., Ltd.is a water-soluble synthetic polymer that can form flexible films, making it a suitable starting point for biodegradable packaging.

PVA/at-PRSSF (seed-shell) compounds provide an excellent low UV (Ultraviolet) light transmittance compared to pure PVA films, and therefore provide a very suitable barrier to light sensitive foods. Equally important a 20% filled seed-shell PVA compound significantly reduces water vapor transmission rates by 90% over virgin PVA resin.

Seed-shell reinforced PVA biofilm applications are ideal for wrapping fresh produce, meats, convenience foods, and other over the counter prepared items where extending short term shelf-life is accomplished by reducing moisture loss and microbial growth. 

 

Additional benefits of naturally seed-shell reinforced PVA biofilms include: 
 

• Significant mechanical property improvement, in terms of 33% tensile strength improvement at 20% seed-shell loading; tear resistance, and film elasticity.
• Seed-shell PVA natural reinforcement increases food barrier packaging biodegradability, making recycling easy and environmentally friendly.
• Improved antioxidant capacity or capability where the naturally filled compound reduces the short-term harmful effects of free radical reactive oxygen.
• Very optimized compound processing technique is aided by finely-ground and easily dispersible seed-shells in the PVA matrix.
• Increased thermal performance where 20% seed-shell loadings lead to a maximum degradation temperature of 335°C, useful for hot-fill or high-temperature storage applications.

Other potential natural reinforcement materials that can be used in PVA biofilms include:
 

• Powdered orange or lemon fruit peels for maximum antioxidant properties.
• Lignin wood processing byproduct for high UV (Ultraviolet) resistance.
• Cellulose nanofibers (CNC), extracted from wood pulp for improved water vapor barrier resistance.

Non-food barrier packaging applications of naturally reinforced PVA biofilms include:
 

• Cosmetics packaging where sensitive product protection requires barrier protection.
• Medical wound dressing applications where biodegradability is important.

Produce chemically recycled PET bottles with DePoly and PTI technology

Ohio-based PTI, a global package design firm, has joined forces with Switzerland’s DePoly, a Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) chemical recycler, and has produced a chemically recycled PET bottle. DePoly’s depolymerization process converts PET packaging, fibers, and industrial waste into Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Mono-ethylene Glycol (MEG), the basic PET monomers. When the two key monomers are polymerized back into PET, PTI’s Swiss division, blow molds it into bottles. 

 

Their process produces virgin-like PTA and MEG monomers, while simultaneously decreasing carbon emissions by 65% versus virgin PET. Equally important, PTI’s depolymerization technology operates at room temperature, without incurring added pressure requirements. 

Also, the raw post-industrial and post-consumer waste feed does not require any prewashing prior to being depolymerized. Finally, PTI in house testing indicates strongly that the chemically recycled bottle will comply with US FDA and related global food safety standards, while maintaining traditionally high oxygen, moisture, and aroma barrier capabilities.

DePoly is in the process of building a summer 2025 Monthey, Switzerland PET depolymerization plant. It is designed to process 500 tons of PET from polyester waste annually. DePoly was recognized as a 2024 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and is a winner of the Top 100 Swiss Startup Award in 2024. DePoly together with PTI has truly established a very wide ranging, full closed loop from diverse waste raw material to finished product PET, recycling system.


 

Extend shelf-life using nylon nanosilica nanocomposite packaging by Toray and Berlin Packaging

Polyamide (PA, or Nylon) has emerged as a more widespread food barrier packaging material, especially when it is compounded with nanosilica nanoparticles, most recently pioneered by Toray. 

Nanoparticle nanosilicate when evenly compound dispersed into nylon resin matrices at 20-30% levels are converted into a maze-like structure that further enhances oxygen and moisture vapor barrier properties over already excellent unfilled nylon. This in turn translates into very improved, longer shelf-life lasting food product freshness, which is particularly important in carbonated beverage, specialty cooking oil, and even liquid pharmaceutical applications.

Improved nanocomposite characteristics are a function of the interfacial interaction between the nylon polymer and the nanosilica additive that leads to excellent food barrier packaging, but additionally better rheological flow, lower flammability, higher heat resistance, and elevated mechanical toughness, also useful in membrane and coating applications.

 

It is important to keep in mind that traditional high food barrier packaging is very dependent on multilayer film structures that in turn usually involve a multiplicity of different plastic materials. Yet these multilayer film structures simultaneously need more intensive, multistep manufacturing processes and more complex recycling schemes. 

By using nanosilicates in a monolayer nylon design, manufacturers eliminate the need for multiple extruders and lamination steps, resulting in a simplified, single-layer, monomaterial structure. It is both manufacturing efficient, energy saving, and promotes straightforward recycling.

As more global, consumer product brands recognize the dual benefits of performance and environmental impact, nanosilicate enhanced nylon bottles, for example, are set to play a larger role in sustainable packaging. Also, as we are rapidly transitioning into the sustainability age from our currently disappearing disposability age, eco conscious industries like packaging will be seeking more high performance, sustainable options like the fusion of nylon with nanosilica.


 

Extend shelf-life with Avient’s 100%-light-blocking PET dairy packaging additive

Avient’s ColorMatrix™ Lactra™ LX 100% light-blocking additive for Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) can provide extended shelf-life and freshness along with greater protection at ambient storage conditions for Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) liquid dairy food packaging in monolayer PET bottles, while delivering a bright white color in a solid masterbatch form.

Key Avient ColorMatrix™ Lactra™ LX additive features include:
 

• Direct visible light-blocking of 100% in monolayer PET bottles.
• Product container design and shapes versatility for ease of contents pouring and bottle differentiation.
• Suitable for resealable containers or containers that are stored flat after opening.
• Very good bottle lightweighting with no sacrifice to light-blocking performance.
• Versus traditional rigid packaging has low overall system cost.
• Complies with EU, US FDA, China and Mercosur food contact legislation.

Visible light induced oxidation leads to degrading chemical reactions in dairy food products. In turn the nutritional quality of Vitamins A, riboflavin B2, D, and amino acid is severely reduced, in essence lost. This leads to milk fats (lipids) oxidizing, and dairy off tastes developing.

Furthermore, liquid dairy products are traditionally packaged in multilaminate paperboard cartons and pouches, or multilayered HDPE bottles. Several disadvantages come with the preceding traditional packaging options namely, shape and material options complexity, where they become non-user friendly in container handling, storage, opening, pouring, resealing, and recycling.

Next up, let's turn our attention to food barrier plastics application innovations.
 

Enhance food-barrier protection and sustainability with Husky Technologies’ circular PET packaging

To meet fast-changing environmental and consumer demands, leading food and beverage producers and brands are increasingly transitioning to Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottles from traditional materials like glass, aluminum, and paper.

Key PET food barrier packaging advantages include:
 

• Excellent oxygen, water vapor, and aroma protection,
• High recycle sustainability,
• Innovative design flexibility,
• Transparency, and
• Overall mechanical performance.

PET in comparison to other traditional food barrier packaging materials like aluminum, paper cartons, or glass will always come out on top in terms of sustainability and cost effectiveness.

For example, aluminum’s light weight is used extensively in beverage packaging. However, aluminum, although recyclable, is an environmental hazard as it generates 175 million tons annually of red mud, a byproduct of bauxite mining, the precursor material to aluminum production. Also, higher quality aluminum alloys are required for beverage can lids that precludes using recycled aluminum here.

Continuing, food barrier paper cartons usually combine paper with plastic and aluminum layers making them very difficult to recycle and to use recycle content, that in turn requires virgin paper use, which ultimately leads to a high level of deforestation annually.

 

Finally, the energy consumption to manufacture a 12-ounce glass bottle is five times higher in comparison to a 20-ounce PET bottle, that translates into a seven-fold increase in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. Also, glass being more fragile and prone to breakage during transit, increases product content loss and food waste. 

Furthermore, glass has a more limited design flexibility, restricting innovative packaging solutions compared to PET, leaving global consumer product companies much less brand differentiation options. Equally important, PET packaging can be recycled multiple times without compromising quality or structural integrity.

Two recent PET bottle conversions will illustrate the point. A European pasta sauce company was able to transition from a long-time glass jar weighing 37 grams to a 90% lighter PET jar with no reduction in content volume. The PET jar is also completely recyclable, as well as compatible with existing filling and capping equipment, therefore eliminating any expensive manufacturing line changes.

Elsewhere, a soup company converted a ready to ready-to-serve 1-liter paper carton to a 750 milliliter PET bottle. The PET bottle is 100% recyclable, and was consumer enhanced with UV (Ultraviolet) barrier protection and better pouring design. Equally important, the new design improved the product’s Return On Investment (ROI) by 20%.

 

In summary keys to succeeding in future monomaterial PET food barrier packaging include:

• Design for the circular economy;
• Use up to 100% rPET or recycled (r) PET content;
• Maximize wall thickness lightweighting;
• Label-less packaging where printing is directly on the PET surface; and
• Easy to recycle tethered or PET bottle cap closures.

Achieve food-contact yoghurt cups with recycled PS using INEOS’s barrier technology

Ineos Styrolution, the global market leader in Polystyrene (PS) resin production, has just finished a barrier food packaging market development project where they successfully made yoghurt cups from mechanically recycled PS. The Ineos postconsumer reclaim process started with deep Near InfraRed (NIR) sorting for PS flake object recognition, followed by hot washing, melt filtration, and pelletizing.

This clean process solution has been registered as a novel technology in accordance with European Union (EU) regulation 2022/1616. This advancement represents a recycled PS first, only achieved previously by PET bottle recyclate. The recycled PS has the same good oxygen, water vapor barrier, and mechanical properties as virgin PS. After detailed quality control tests on both the recycled PS and yoghurt cups the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) approved food contact use. 

 

Additionally consistent yoghurt cup color was maintained in field tests with German dairy product manufacturer Theo Müller. Extensive consumer taste tests on recycled PS yoghurt filled cups indicated a high 95% approval rating for future product purchases. Also, customer surveys revealed that consumers would be willing to buy yoghurt in cups in colors other than traditional plain white. 

The new technology was presented at the recent Dresden Packaging Conference. Also, the yoghurt cups meet all the requirements of the new EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) directive, which applies to all EU packaging materials. The yogurt cups will arrive by October 2025 on the shelves of the German supermarket chain Lidl.


 

Achieve extended shelf-life with Accredo’s first 100% bioplastic food-contact pouch

Accredo Packaging’s 100% bioplastic monomaterial pouch is made of Braskem’s sugarcane content “I’m Green” brand recyclable Polyethylene (PE). They also worked with Reynolds Consumer Products’ Fresh-Lock to produce an equally novel bioplastic zipper closure. It is designed to be in store recyclable recycled at numerous locations globally.

Braskem’s “I’m Green” brand PE matches traditional fossil fuel-based PE in terms of its durability, flexibility, and shelf-life. Another relevant point is that Braskem’s biobased PE does not compete with sugarcane use for food products. Finally, an interesting aside is that this bioplastic pouch’s film extrusion process depends on 100% wind generated electricity.

 

Accredo packaging’s film extrusion process settings are the result of very precise temperature, pressure, and cooling measurement optimizations to ensure the food pouch’s oxygen and water vapor barrier performance standards are met without any sacrifice to visual package appearance and surface smoothness.

Furthermore, a Machine Direction Oriented (MDO) manufacturing extrusion process is used to enhance the biopolymer film’s mechanical, heat resistance, and most importantly optical properties that make it very equivalent to traditional food barrier Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) packaging.

Conventional blown film technology is also used to produce the interior package sealant web, where the product label is trapped between two layers, which in turn results in a sharp reduction in printing ink usage. Thus, traditional premixed ink usage is eliminated, which contributes to an overall package 90% waste reduction. 


 

Enhance food-barrier packaging with Avantium’s plant-based PEF and Amcor Packaging

Avantium is a Netherlands-based company focused on renewable and circular polymer materials, has joined a partnership with Amcor Rigid Packaging, USA, to support the adoption of Avantium's plant-based polymer Polyethylene Furanoate (PEF) in rigid food and beverage containers. Amcor is North America’s number one blow molder with an estimated $3.5 billion in sales in the region, and globally is the largest.

Avantium’s PEF Furan Dicarboxylic Acid (FDCA) monomer starting point is surplus food starch from feedstocks such as wheat and corn. PEF is produced by polymerizing ethylene glycol and 2,5-Furan Dicarboxylic Acid (FDCA), a compound that replaces terephthalic acid in the Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) structure. This substitution allows PEF to retain many of PET’s key properties while adding benefits in terms of sustainability and performance.

The company is currently starting the world's first commercial FDCA plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands. Amcor has also committed to a multi-year volume capacity off take commitment for PEF, based on a technology license from Avantium at their Dutch industrial-scale facility. This agreement will guarantee Amcor preferred access to PEF produced by Avantium.

 

Avantium’s Releaf brand PEF, has a longer shelf-life than conventional PET and has greater mechanical strength, allowing for thinner wall packaging with equivalent oxygen and water barrier properties. Plant based Releaf PEF can be recycled with PET containers.

Having the facility in the Netherlands will allow Avantium to sell FDCA and PEF directly to customers through its licensing strategy. With the partnership with Amcor and the two companies' capacity reservation agreement, Avantium will be able to meet demand more effectively.

In addition to Amcor, Avantium has concluded PEF off take volume agreements with global brands LVMH, AmBev, and Carlsberg. The conditional offtake agreements already secured by Avantium represent 95% of the capacity of the flagship plant for the first five years of operation.

PEF has received a Food Contact Notification approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Food packaging is a major application for Avantium’s PEF alternative to PET. PEF offers a longer shelf-life, which results in less food waste. 

Under this approval, Avantium’s food contact grade PEF can be used as packaging for all food types, whether filled and stored at room temperature, refrigerated, and/or frozen, such as acidic foods, alcoholic drinks with less than 20% alcohol, and both clear and cloudy beverages in the European Union (EU) and UK, except for infant formulas, foods with more than 15% alcohol, or human milk. A similar approval letter has already been received by Avantium for food packaging in the EU and the United Kingdom (UK).


 

Achieve natural food-barrier packaging using Evoware’s edible biopolymer compounds

Biopolymers compounded with natural additives such as seaweed from Evoware, rice paper, gelatin, pectin, plant protein, or cellulose microbeads are a new development in barrier food packaging where they become edible and thus reduce fossil fuel-based plastics waste. These edible materials have a dual function, where the food product is protected from external contamination, and acts as an integral part of the food.

These edible additives that can be combined with biopolymers or other plants or microbial systems can either form a thin coating layer or a film directly applied to a food product provide good oxygen, water vapor, and carbon dioxide food barrier packaging protection. Thus, the encapsulated food is protected from oxidation, humidity, and microbial activity, while preserving texture and flavor, without having to use traditional methods like salting or heat treatment.

Edible packaging also uses biopolymers created from renewably sourced proteins and fat lipids. These systems are dissolvable in water or other organic solvents, which makes them very amenable to processes like spraying or dipping to form the ideal food coating or film. Food applications include edible cups, pouches, wraps, and snack or ready-to-eat meals films.

 

Future research will continue to further measure and define edible compound toxicity and standardize cost efficient techniques for edible additive extraction from their natural sources. Progress in these preceding areas will assist the food barrier packaging industry to be more sustainable that in turn allows for safe, eco-friendly products.


Major global edible packaging companies:
 

• Evoware (edible packaging from seaweed, Indonesia)
• XAMPLA (plant protein, UK)
• SafeTraces (edible biological barcode that "prints" all traceability information directly on (or in) food products, USA)
• Naturbeads (cellulose microbeads, UK)
• LACTIPS (biodegradable, water-soluble polymers, France)
• Notpla (natural materials extracted from plants and seaweed, UK)
• Mori (uses just salt and water to extract protein from silk, USA)
• AgroSustain (develops natural solutions to stop and prevent the development of molds on important agricultural crops pre- and post-harvest, Switzerland)
• FlexSea (sustainable seaweed derived material that replaces plastic film packaging and degrades in a matter of weeks, UK)
• Saveggy (plant-based vegetable packaging designed to replace plastic, Sweden)

Global plastics volume was approximately 545 billion pounds in 2024, with a projected growth to 790 billion pounds by 2031.Total plastics packaging was 180 billion pounds in 2024. Food barrier packaging accounted for 70 of the 180 billion pounds and USD 60 billion in 2024. Compounded annual food barrier plastic volume growth rate is estimated to be 4.7% to 2031.
 

List of top 10 global food barrier packaging suppliers:
 

Key plastic food barrier packaging market trends:
 

• Plastic food packaging is versatile and convenient, making it ideal for a wide range of food goods such as fresh produce, dairy, meat, seafood, snacks, and beverages.
• Plastic food packaging extends the shelf-life of perishable foods by acting as an excellent barrier against moisture, oxygen, light, and microbes.
• Advances in plastic food packaging technology have resulted in new solutions that improve product protection, functionality, and sustainability.
• Plastic food packaging enables adapting and branding to differentiate items and build brand identification.