Best practices for dried fruit and nuts packaging: Ensuring quality and safety

Today, packaging plays a far more important role than simple food storage. On the modern market, wrappers serve as powerful marketing tools in the arms of skilled marketers and enterprises. Brands manage customer behavior and stimulate sales by designing covers thoroughly.

Proper wrappers give additional value to stored products by performing the following functions:

• extend food shelf life by preserving its physical properties;
• guarantee secure transportation due to proper storage and placement;
• simplify transportation due to taking less space and achieving better ergonomics;
• attract customer attention and, accordingly, boost sales;
• come as a sustainable recycling solution to minimise the negative footprint on the environment.

Each type of product requires particular packaging, depending on its physical properties. For instance, frozen products should be packed in covers that prevent leaking and odors, while wrappers for fragile or cracking-prone products should perfectly keep the shape. When we talk about dried fruit packaging, they should meet the following criteria:

1. Be water-proof to avoid any moisture penetration.
2. Withstand environmental influences, including sunlight, dust, and other pollutants.
3. Keep the odor, taste, and nutritional properties.
4. Prevent snacks from cracking or spoilage.

The choice of the best packaging for dry fruits requires particular attention. For instance, if the cover lets the sunlight through, nuts can get rancid. Thus, it is important to take into account several parameters.

Key parameters to exclude for nut wrappers

When selecting nuts packaging, producers should consider the following factors to guarantee food freshness, safety, and quality:

1. Light. Sunlight negatively influences dry products since under constant exposure to natural light, fruits and nuts go rancid.
2. Oxygen. Under the influence of oxygen, fruits and nuts dry out and lose their taste.
3. Moisture. When dealing with dry food (nuts, fruits, etc.), moisture comes as the worst enemy since food can become damp and moldy.

A well-developed dry fruit packing cover protects food from all sorts of environmental impacts and guarantees aroma, taste, and nutritional properties preservation.

Top solutions for dried fruit and nuts covers

Here, two classifications are distinguished. Depending on the considered factors, covers are distinguished by design and form.

Design shaping

In this class, wrappers fall into:

• transparent;
• solid colored.

The benefit of transparent covers is that consumers can see the product and assess its form and freshness. Yet, solid-colored wrappers have higher barrier properties.

Form shaping

According to the shape, the packaging of dried fruits and nuts is divided into the following categories:

1. Stand-up pouches (doypacks). These are flexible containers for long-term storage of dry food. These are non-liquid durable options that have high barrier properties. They come in a great variety of sizes, allowing for carrying from several grams up to kilograms of food. The main advantages of stand-up pouches are lightweight (in comparison with rigid boxes, bags, and bottles), space-ergonomic (take little place on store shelves), puncture-resistant, and withstand climatic issues. Besides, such packs can be additionally equipped with various accessories for easier handling and multi-use functionality. These are reclosable zippers, euroslots, transparent windows, breathing valves, etc.
2. Gusset bags. This option is perfect for packing larger volumes of products. All sorts of dry products can be packed in such bags. Usually, these packages have handling holes, breathing valve, and euroslots.
3. Plastic or glass jars. This solution is perfect for bulk portions of nuts and fruits. Big jars allow for storing and transporting kilos of product. Moreover, this dry fruits packing material is sustainable and protect from moisture perfectly. However, this option has low barrier properties (poor protection from sunlight).
4. Custom boxes. This option is excellent for gift-giving purposes. Usually, such boxes have fancy designs and attract attention. Yet, they are more costly in production and designed for small portions.
5. Non-resalable pouches. It is an economical option for packing dry food. Such pouches cost little but do not protect food from environmental factors after opening.

Flexible packages, such as stand-up pouches and gusset bags, are the most popular due to their convenience of use, customisation, sustainability, and high barrier qualities. Thus, most manufacturers tend to use these solutions for their food.

Currently, the following trends in packing dry products are observed in the food sector. Customisable individual-design labels for making products more attractive on store shelves. Consumers have become more conscious nowadays so they tend to use health-friendly sustainable alternatives. Dry food is the perfect snack so customers frequently buy it to grab a bite on the go. Manufacturers, in turn, try to make packages more handy and comfortable for out-of-home snacking experiences.

The modern industry offers multiple solutions for wrapping dry products. When selecting the best packing material for dry fruits, pay attention to its safety for humans, non-interaction with products under multiple conditions, eco-friendliness, and production cost.