Packaging Materials 3: Polypropylene as a Packaging for Food and Beverages


ILSI Europe Report Series

Another report has been published in the ILSI Europe Report Series: Polypropylene as a Packaging Material for Foods and Beverages. This report is the third in the series on packaging materials (following the first on PET and the second on polystyrene). Polypropylene plastics began to find commercial applications in the 1950s, and the world production of polypropylene is likely to increase in the future. The range of useful properties of polypropylene plastics has resulted in the manufacture of a wide variety of food and beverage packaging types, which extend from films to pots, tubs, bottles, bottle caps, container closures, and labels. With both the growing variety of packaging types and increasingly competitive costs of manufacturing and processing, polypropylene is now a principal packaging material for many of the individual items in consumers’ daily diets. The basic chemistry, safety considerations, and applications of polypropylene are reviewed in this report with respect to current regulations on plastic food-contact packaging. It is expected that this new report will improve understanding of, and will serve as a useful source of information on polypropylene packaging materials.

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