Food packaging needs to embrace new tech: experts

In Bangladesh there is an urgent need to upgrade from obsolete and unsafe food packaging practices to advanced and safe techniques, said speakers at a discussion yesterday. 

Ensuring compliance to packaging guidelines is a complex challenge as it necessitates collaboration of stakeholders in the supply chain, they told the event, "Safe Food Packaging for a Better Tomorrow", at The Westin Dhaka.

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It was organised by the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with Bangladesh Food Safety Authority, the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) and SIEGWERK, a provider of printing inks and coatings for packaging applications and labels.

"Bangladesh is fast-evolving in consumption of packaged food and we need new and higher standards for food packaging," said Ashish Pradhan, president of SIEGWERK's Asia region.

In order to develop safe food packaging with appropriate and safe solvents, pigments and other components, the need for a regulatory approach and its adherence across the entire supply chain is imperative, he said.

Because cooperation along the value chain is crucial to ensure maximum product safety, Pradhan added.

Packaging safety still remains a highly important topic and no food is safe without proper packaging, said Joerg Peter Langhammer, head of global product safety and responsibility of the SIEGWERK.

However, ensuring packaging safety requires the entire supply chain to be transparent and follow an integrated approach, he said.

The packaging value chain is complex and the responsibilities must be shared, he said.

Considering the safety of packaged food, the BSTI has taken an initiative to formulate a standard for printing ink for food packaging, informed Nilufa Hoque, director of the standards wing of the BSTI.

The BSTI has taken steps to protect customers from fake products as well as to develop conventional systems, she said.

It has enabled use of "Real Time Quick Response" codes for various issues such as online BSTI licencing, renewal, cancellation, suspension and verification, customs clearance certificates and test reports of the BSTI laboratories, she said.