The sales of prefabricated food products in the world have shown an exponential growth trend, and under the attraction of the broad market space, prefabricated dishes have become popular, and prefabricated food packaging has also stood on the outlet. For those in the packaging industry, pre-made dishes are an opportunity to fill the air with sweetness. In particular, fresh-keeping packaging, cold chain packaging, and other functional packaging will surely promote the great prosperity of this type of packaging. So, what specific packaging will usher in the historical opportunity of the storm?

1. Vacuum packaging technology Quality and freshness Vacuum packaging technology is a common preservation technology for prefabricated dishes. Vacuum packaging can be divided into two packaging forms: vacuum bagging and vacuum boxing. The main function of vacuum bagging is to remove oxygen, which is conducive to preventing food from spoiling. Commonly used types of vacuum packaging machines include double-chamber vacuum packaging machines, rolling vacuum packaging machines, stretch film vacuum packaging machines, and so on. Vacuum boxing is commonly used to package ready-to-eat products such as chilled fresh meat, clean vegetables, duck neck, crayfish, cold skin, etc., which are usually packaged by modified atmosphere vacuum packaging, and are mostly packaged by the equipment of modified atmosphere vacuum packaging machine. At present, the commonly used modified atmosphere vacuum packaging machines on the market are mainly divided into two categories, one is semi-automatic modified atmosphere vacuum packaging machine, and the other is automatic modified atmosphere vacuum packaging machine. In the type of semi-automatic modified atmosphere vacuum packaging machine, it is divided into two types of models, one is single-in and single-out type, and the other is double-in and double-out.

2. There is also a skin vacuum packaging machine, the principle is to use a low-viscosity composite film, put the material on the tray or film of the lower template, in the vacuum state, the heat generated by the heating plate is sent to the vacuum chamber through the exhaust outlet, and the low-viscosity composite film is instantly heated throughout the body, compounded together, to achieve the effect of vacuum packaging. This type of packaging is heated and softened by the film and then shrink wrapped, so there is no phenomenon of puncturing the film when packing items with sharp corners and hard thorns. This kind of packaging has no breakage rate and is low.

2. Foldable insulated turnover box At present, logistics giants such as JD.com, Shunfeng, and Cainiao have been operating insulated turnover boxes. Taking JD.com as an example, the use of foldable insulated turnover boxes has been fully implemented in JD's fresh food business to replace disposable foam boxes, which are returned to the warehouse for recycling through JD's reverse logistics. The service life of JD circulating cold chain boxes is more than 1.5 years, with an average of 130 times of use of a single box, and a cumulative number of uses of 180 million times over the years, effectively reducing the use of disposable foam boxes, ice packs and dry ice. At present, a total of 180 million disposable foam boxes, 600 million disposable ice bags, and 500 million kilograms of dry ice have been reduced, with a cumulative emission reduction of more than 300,000 tons. According to reports, Jingdong Logistics also gives full play to its own advantages in the supply chain and cooperates with upstream enterprises to work the packaging reduction cycle. On the one hand, the use of primary packaging, that is, the commodity packaging has the function of protecting goods in the process of logistics and transportation, and meets the external logistics environment, and does not need secondary packaging to achieve direct delivery. Jingdong Logistics encourages upstream brand enterprises to implement direct packaging through preferential warehousing policies, and thousands of commodity SKUs of brands such as Procter & Gamble and Unilever have realized that the original packaging can be sent directly, and the use of logistics cartons has been reduced by more than 150 million so far. Duan Yanjian of JD Logistics pointed out that this measure reduces the use of paper by about 125,000 tons, which is equivalent to a reduction of 4.4×105 tons of carbon emissions.

3. Paper-plastic cold chain incubator Vericool in United States has recently developed a new type of cold chain incubator, which is mainly made of compostable insulation materials, including recycled paper fiber and other plant-based materials, which can be recycled and composted. Discarded Vericool cold chain coolers can be recycled and can be degraded in 180 days or less.

3. Vericool's compostable insulation meets biodegradable material standards, is certified to United States ASTM D6400 and European EN 13432 and is priced at $4.99. At the same time, compared with traditional foam incubators, Vericool's cold chain packaging boxes can be kept warm for a longer period of time, and the cost is also lower.

5. Thermal insulation kraft paper insulation matRanpak's new WrapPak 70/70 solution is used to press kraft paper into corrugated paper pads with Protector equipment, which can be cut and folded as needed. With its unique material properties and corrugated structure, it can effectively reduce the heat loss caused by heat conduction, convection and radiation, and can control the temperature to maintain a certain range, so as to ensure the freshness of fresh food. The time function plot plotted by calculation shows that with 2 layers of corrugated paper, the temperature can be kept below 5°C for 26 hours; With 3 layers of corrugated paper, the temperature can be kept below 4°C for 26 hours. Experiments have proved that WrapPak corrugated paper has good thermal insulation properties.

2. 5. Laminated Iron TechnologyPrefabricated Vegetable PackagingCoated Iron Technology refers to the process technology of laminating plastic film on the surface of metal substrates through hot melt or adhesive method, so as to improve the corrosion resistance of metal substrates and metal containers. The products produced by this technology have the characteristics of corrosion resistance, acid resistance, BPA-free, plasticizer-free, etc., which can not only ensure the sterility and safety of the contents, but also lock the original taste of the ingredients. The representative enterprise of coated iron packaging technology in China is ORG, which independently develops food-grade coated iron technology, and has launched a prefabricated food brand "ORG Bowl" that relies on the technology to create a prefabricated food brand, which currently has products such as Buddha jumping over the wall, millet sea cucumber, white fungus yam chicken head rice, fish maw chicken and so on.

Coated iron has strong universality, most of the food packaging on the market can be used, and simply through the advanced technology of packaging materials, it can effectively extend the shelf life of food to one year in the case of zero anti-corrosion addition, coupled with the environmental performance, thermal conductivity, light insulation, airtightness and adaptability of special environment of metal materials, the packaging form has also become one of the new tracks of prefabricated food packaging.