Tamper-Proof Packaging – Should Fresh Produce Be Packaged?
The recent contaminated strawberry saga, where needles were discovered within strawberry punnets in both Australia and New Zealand, led not only to
supermarkets pulling all Australian strawberries from shelves but also a nationwide enquiry into New Zealand’s
traceability of our fresh produce. Questions have since arisen as to how supermarkets, growers and those in the
packaging industry can prevent this form of human tampering occurring again in the future.
Tamper-proof packaging is one option which can help provide a level of safety, or at least alert consumers to any
possible foul play.
How can this be achieved with the least possible footprint on our environment?
With supermarkets making more and more moves towards being plastic-free, how will this affect packaging manufacturers’
ability to tamper-proof produce and yet still achieve the least environmental impact?
Increasing the packaging of fresh product does lead to more plastic being used and it’s a balancing act between
insulating the product, extending shelf-life and now ensuring the end-user is not subjected to any product tampering
between packaging and retail sale.
Custom-Pak Products Ltd is leading the charge with tamper-proof clamshell containers made with RPET. We almost exclusively work with RPET
(recycled PET) clear, recyclable plastic packaging, which is not only tamper-proof, but also non-toxic to the
environment.
Our mission
We aim to be continually innovative in our exploration of environmentally better and safer ways of food packaging.
Integrity in environmental sustainability is highly important to us. Our goal is to help New Zealand move towards a more
desirable circular economy – a ‘closed circle’ packaging solution which recycles post-consumer PET and RPET so it can be
reinstated into RPET material. This will minimise plastic waste in landfill and limit use of non-renewable energy
sources.
Look for the Custom-Pak name and you will have confidence that the environment and recycling is foremost in mind in the production.