Food packaging is an essential part of pre-made dish production and plays the following roles in the production, transportation, storage, and sales processes of pre-made dishes:

Protect food: Food packaging can prevent food from being contaminated, damaged, or deteriorated during transportation, storage, and sales.

Extend shelf life: Food packaging can block substances such as oxygen, water, and light, delaying the oxidation, spoilage, and deterioration of food and extending its shelf life.

Enhance quality: Food packaging can enhance the quality of pre-made dishes, making them more beautiful, convenient, easy to identify, and use.

Convey information: Food packaging can convey information such as the production date, shelf life, ingredients, and consumption methods of the food, making it convenient for consumers to understand and use.

The commonly used packaging materials for pre-made dishes mainly include the following:
Plastic: Plastic packaging has good transparency, barrier properties, and plasticity, and is relatively low-cost, making it a commonly used packaging material for pre-made dishes.

Paper: Paper packaging has good environmental friendliness and degradability, making it suitable for pre-made dishes with less impact on the environment.

Metal: Metal packaging has good barrier properties and corrosion resistance, making it suitable for pre-made dishes with higher requirements for shelf life.

Glass: Glass packaging has good transparency and barrier properties, making it suitable for pre-made dishes that require displaying the appearance of the food.

The commonly used packaging equipment for pre-made dishes mainly includes: vacuum packaging machines and modified atmosphere packaging machines. Vacuum packaging machines can extract the air in the packaging bag to create a vacuum state, extending the shelf life of the food. Modified atmosphere packaging machines can replace the gas in the packaging bag with specific gases to extend the shelf life of the food.

Of course, the development of the pre-made dish industry and the increasing demand for packaging will also bring problems such as environmental pollution. Some pre-made dish packaging is classified into multiple categories, including ingredients and seasoning packets, which are difficult to recycle and cause environmental pollution. At the same time, the cost of packaging materials and equipment for pre-made dishes is relatively high, which also increases the production cost of pre-made dishes.

Food packaging is an important link in the production of pre-made dishes and has an important impact on the quality, shelf life, and sales of pre-made dishes. In the future, the packaging technology of pre-made dishes needs to further develop to improve the environmental friendliness and degradability of packaging materials, reduce packaging costs, and reduce environmental pollution in order to better meet the needs of the development of the pre-made dish industry.