When you go out shopping for groceries, one of the things that you should never have to worry about it whether your food is packaged properly. It’s expected that when you grab a bag of iceberg lettuce or slip those chicken breasts into your cart, that they have been properly sealed in their packaging for you to buy. However, even in today’s modern society, the facts do not lie. One in six Americans become sick from food borne diseases, with around 128,000 needing hospitalization and roughly 3,000 of them dying from it. This is why proper food packaging machines are so crucial.
Proper packaging allows for the ease of movement and transportation of the food. Food sealing machines typically work as an assembly machine, allowing the food to be packed easier and quicker. The packaging also allows the food to last much longer than it could if it were not packaged.
In some cases, food packaging equipment can also include x-ray machines. X-ray food inspection allows workers to check for anything that should not be with the food, such as bones from animals. Allowing for this prevents potential choking hazards from reaching unaware customers.
Alongside that brand of food packaging equipment are metal detectors. They have a similar job to the X-ray machines, in that they are used to detect things that shouldn’t be in food. Namely, high concentrations of metal present in food. If the levels of metal in the food are enough that a food product may become toxic if consumed, the metal detector lets the workers know and the food product is thrown out.
Proper food packaging equipment not only allows for a safe and easy means of transporting food goods, but it also plays a large part in the safety of the food you eat everyday. Done right, the packaging can protect the food from spoiling. It keeps back dust particles, air, water and other contaminants that may lead to your food carrying some deadly bacteria. If it is done wrong, then it can lead to some serious consequences, as mentioned in the first paragraph.
It’s clear by the numbers that we still have a ways to go in order to ensure our food products remain unspoiled and free of contaminants. Allowing for the development and use of newer and safer food packaging equipment is essential is we ever want to see those staggering numbers of people poisoned by food borne illness drop.
