7 Reasons Food Brands Use Tin Packaging for Canned Recipes

Though tin cans originated in the 1800s, modern food brands still prefer them for canning food. Wondering the reason for prioritizing tins cans? When can food businesses buy plastic cans or glass jars in the food market?
The answer lies in an incredible combination of tin's durability, preservation capabilities, and versatility. This combination has made tin cans a cornerstone of the canned food industry for decades. Let's dive into seven main reasons that give tin cans a competitive edge in the canned food market:

Prolong Shelf Life

Whether you sell soups, pickles, green beans, juice, or brine, choosing custom tin packaging (https://oxopackaging.com/tin-packaging.html) cans, boxes, and containers is a safe choice. The reason is that they create an airtight, light-proof, and moisture-proof barrier that prevents microbial growth and oxidation.
As a result, canned food items stay protected and don't get contaminated while preserving food quality, nutrients, and flavor for extended periods. However, if you choose plastic cans or glass jars, they can get exposed to light, oxygen, and moisture easily, causing spoilage and nutrient loss. It eventually leads to a low shelf life of canned food items, unlike tin containers.

Reflect Premium Look

Apart from storing canned food items for a long time, tin cans can be customized to look great and elegant. When you put canned items into a tin can, it gives your customers an impression of high-quality and expensive food.
Using tin cans also makes your food look fresh and fun due to their unique style and design. In the saturated canned food industry, grab the instant attention of your potential buyers by choosing innovative shapes for tin containers apart from the traditional cylindrical form.
For example, your brand can pick custom pillow-style packaging (https://customboxeslane.com/pillow-boxes) for tin cans to stand out in the canned food market. Keep in mind that tin material itself is rigid and cannot be easily formed into a soft, curved pillow-like shape.
So, to give your tin cans a pillow shape, you can use creative finishes and design elements that evoke the same aesthetic or tactile impression as a pillow box itself. Plus, you can customize tin boxes in unique styles like a hinged lid and a slide drawer to give an exciting unboxing experience to your customers.

Preserve Nutritional Value

Once you place your canned items in a container, it gets sealed hermetically. This airtight seal prevents oxygen from entering, which is crucial because oxygen causes oxidation and spoilage while promoting the growth of aerobic bacteria and microorganisms.
The sealed can is then heated to a high temperature to sterilize the canned contents. This process kills all vegetative bacteria and pathogens while deactivating enzymes that could otherwise degrade nutrients and food quality.
Also, the opaque nature of the tin container blocks out light, which can degrade sensitive vitamins, like riboflavin, vitamins A, and C. This way, the canning process itself effectively locks in remaining nutritional value, ensuring canned foods retain significant amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and most minerals, and fat-soluble vitamins for long periods.

Offer High Durability

The core of the tin container is steel, which is a rigid and robust material known for its strength and impact resistance. This makes the container less prone to breaking, bending, denting, or puncturing during production, transportation, handling, and stacking compared to materials like plastic or glass.
Also, the tin coating offers a crucial barrier against corrosion and rust. It is less reactive than the underlying steel. So it forms a protective oxide layer that shields the iron from moisture and oxygen, even in humid environments. This preserves the integrity of both the container and its contents over long periods.

Resist High-Temperature and Pressure

Modern tin containers are actually made of a low-carbon steel plate with a very thin tin coating, known as "tinplate." The steel component has a high melting point of around 1538°C or 2800°F. It allows the container to maintain its structural integrity at temperatures that would deform plastic or glass.
This heat resistance makes tin containers ideal for the food canning process, where sealed food cans are sterilized at high temperatures and pressures. They ensure safety and extend the shelf life of canned food items.
As a result, tin material effectively withstands these thermal processes without producing harmful substances or affecting the quality of canned food.

Reduce Shipping Costs

Modern tinplate uses less steel. It makes cans lighter without compromising strength. No-brainer, lightweight means lighter shipments, which results in less fuel consumption. It directly reduces the shipping costs.
The best part is that tin containers can be stacked efficiently while maximizing space in trucks and vessels, and reducing the number of trips needed. Hence, for smaller items like gift tins, nesting allows larger tins to fit inside smaller ones while reducing empty space and lowering shipping volume.

Align with Sustainability Goals

The primary component of tin containers is tin-plated steel, which can be recycled repeatedly without any loss in quality or strength. This reduces the need for virgin raw materials. Manufacturing new products from recycled tin (steel) uses significantly less energy, up to 74% less for steel, compared to primary production from raw ore. This directly lowers greenhouse gas emissions and a product's carbon footprint.
Moreover, tin packaging provides an effective alternative to single-use plastics by offering a durable, reusable, and easily recyclable option. Contrarily, single-use plastics are a major source of pollution in landfills and oceans.
Tinplate packaging already meets or exceeds many current and proposed international and regional recycling regulations and targets. It positions tin packaging as a future-proof solution for businesses, aiming to comply with stricter environmental standards.

Wrap Up!

Food consumers want their canned food packaged in health-safe and eco-friendly containers. However, many brands either use plastic cans or glass jars for storing canned foods because tin containers cost more.
That's what you shouldn't go for if you want to build a strong reputation for your canned food brand. Because using plastic is not only toxic but takes hundreds of years to dispose of. But choosing tin cans for food packaging ensures your consumers are getting canned food from a sustainable source without emptying your wallet.

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This release was published on openPR.