Initially, food product packaging served the purpose of containing and protecting the product inside, but as producers and marketers realized the great advertising potentials of the wrappers, food packaging also started to evolve as carriers of advertising and information. As the food packaging industry developed, new factors have come into the picture as well: nowadays food wrappers are not only expected to be strong, informative and attractive, but to meet requirements regarding sustainability and health as well.
The earliest food wrappers were introduced hundreds of years ago and used cloth, wood, paper and glass. The Industrial Revolution added steel to the line-up, mainly in the form of boxes. By the 1960’s, steel was almost completely replaced by aluminum, a material that was resistant to corrosion and to impact, yet lightweight and much cheaper and much easier to use for producing packaging. The 1950’s and the 1960’s were the decades when plastic materials gained ground in the packaging industry as well and it looks like the material is here to stay – even today, plastic is the material that is the most frequently used for making food wrappers.
The manufacturing technologies used for making food wrappers are also in constant evolution, with research going on continuously to reduce the environmental impact of the production process and to eliminate any chemical reaction between the food and its wrapper. A good Denver packaging company provides many options for custom labels and will be eco-friendly.