Food Packaging Recipes Food Cooking International Guide
Food Packaging And All That Goes To Waste
By Julia Taylor-Fernandez
Food packaging is on so many food products these days. You go
to the grocery store and almost everything is covered in plastic
or in tins. You cannot buy just one grocery item, you have to
buy three of the same food product wrapped in plastic food packaging.
This is the reason the garbage bin fills up so quickly, with all
the food packaging taking up so much space as garbage.
Some of the supermarkets have finally started to shift towards
displaying some products without food packaging, especially the
fruit and vegetables. So you can pick a number of fruit and place
them in a paper bag and bring them home.
All The Fruit And Vegetables The Family Needs
I have now ceased buying fruit and vegetables from the grocery
store, as I have expanded my garden to include more organic fruit
and vegetables. I have also planted miniature fruit trees all
around the yard to fulfil the family needs for fruit.
So now if we need some lemons, we go to the lemon tree and pick
them fresh off the branch. If we need some tomatoes to make a
sauce, then we go and pick the tomatoes from our tomato plants
in our garden. No need for a plastic sauce bottle, or plastic
bags to carry the tomatoes from the store.
The Food Industry And Food Packaging
The planet is groaning under the weight of landfill garbage sites
and something needs to be done. The food industry is a big contributor
to waste. Next time you go to the supermarket, lay everything
out that you bought when you get home. The amount of food packaging
will dismay you, I’m sure.
There needs to be a shift in attitude from the retail outlets,
the food manufacturers and the consumer. We all know that the
amount of food packaging we use is unnecessary. I bought a cake
recently and the picture on the box showed a large cake. The box
itself was quite a size.
A Small Cake In A Big Box
Imagine my disappointment when I discovered the cake inside to
be of microscopic proportions. It’s a deliberate attempt
to mislead and the box was filled with plastic to fill out the
box where yummy chocolate cake should have been. There is a serious
point here, because my purchase is being duplicated thousands
of times.
Plastic seems to be the biggest culprit. There is a drive in
the UK at the moment for customers to re-use their plastic, carrier
bags. This is commendable but there are other food packaging issues
to address. So much fruit and vegetables are pre-packed now.
Where there is a choice of buying loose amounts, the stores only
put out plastic bags to put the items in. In the past, I would
go get my tomatoes, Brussels sprouts etc. and carry them in a
paper bag. At least, paper production can be obtained from sustainable
forests. Having pre-packed items can be a pain in the neck anyway.
Sometimes, I want to buy one pepper but I am forced to buy three
in a bag.
Plastic Sauce And Mayo Bottles
Bottles are another offender. I know that plastic sauce and mayo
bottles are easier to use than glass ones, from a squeezing out
the contents point of view. I also know that it might be possible
to recycle the plastic container as well as the glass, but it
would be better to not make the plastic in the first place.
There is a debate as to whether to bring in legislation to reduce
food packaging or to rely on a voluntary scheme for everyone concerned.
Perhaps if the shoppers dumped all the packaging back in the supermarket
car park after they’d unwrapped everything, things would change
very quickly.
A Big Glass Jar
I look back nostalgically to when I went to my local sweet shop
in England and asked for a liquorice stick and a few mints. The
shopkeeper would take them out of a big, glass jar and put them
in a paper bag for me.
Even good old fish and chips have been affected. Traditionally,
fish and chip shops used to wrap your fish supper in newspaper.
These days, it comes in plastic sheets. No one knows why but everyone
agrees that fish and chips tastes a lot better in newspaper. This
is the biggest food packaging crime of all!
No More Plastic Carrier Bags
I am now refusing to use plastic carrier bags when I go grocery
shopping and have bought my own shopping bags that I use every
time I go grocery shopping. I have heard that whales and dolphins
choke on plastic shopping bags and drown, as they cannot clear
their throats. I do not want to be responsible for the next whale
that drowns, so I now refuse to use plastic bags.
If I have to buy something in plastic wrapping, I always ensure
I dispose of it properly and do not let the wrapping fly into
the atmosphere and pollute the environment. Every time we take
a family trip up the country, we see so much food packaging on
the side of the road. Instead of seeing the green natural surroundings,
we see rubbish.
Even when we go to the beach, you can see garbage floating on
the water. I have seen tyres, plastic packaging and other things
that make me refuse to go in the water. As a family caring for
the environment, we have decided to review our options and buy
only groceries not covered in plastic food packaging.
About the Author:
Julia Taylor-Fernandez has written a number of articles on healthy food, nutrition, dieting and cooking including
Fruit And Vegetable,
General Nutrition,
Teapot Cake,
Low Carb Cheese Cake,
Nutritional Information,
Foods High In Vitamin K,
Low Carb Dinners,
Health Food Store.
Keep a lookout for more of her articles on this website.
Did You Know?
What should I do if I think I have eaten food that has been
contaminated or spoiled?
If you think that food contamination has
happened and you have eaten some contaminated food then you should
be aware of some warning signs. If you or a family member becomes
very ill you need to seek medical attention immediately.
Signs of food poisoning can be vomiting,
diarrhea and even running a temperature. You should also know
that it can be a few hours or even a day after the food has been
consumed before the symptoms appear.
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