STUDY ON FIBER FURNISHES AND FIBER MORPHOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF COMMONLY USED INDIAN FOOD PACKAGING PAPERS AND PAPERBOARDS

• Published in: Cellulose chemistry and technology 2021-01, Vol.55 (1-2), p.125-131
• Main Authors: SOOD, SWATI, SHARMA, CHHAYA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0576-9787; 2457-9459
• DOI: 10.35812/CelluloseChemTechnol.2021.55.13

Maintaining the quality of their final paper-based food packaging products at a high and constant level is a key issue for food packaging manufacturers to meet the customer demands. In the present study, in order to analyze the present status of quality of paper-based food packages in India, the fiber furnishes of different common paper- and paperboard-based food packages were studied by the Graff “C” staining test and their fiber morphological properties – by MorFi analysis. The staining test results showed that all the samples contained fiber furnish made either by the chemical or by the mechanical pulping process. Tea bags, dry fruit boxes and egg trays were made of 4 different fiber components, while sugar sachets and juice boxes contained 3 fiber components. It was also observed that all the samples contained hardwood and softwood chemical fibers. MorFi analysis determined the morphological properties of the fibers, including the mean fiber length and width, coarseness, kink angle, kinked fibers %, curl % and fines elements % in total analyzed fibers. The results thus obtained confirmed that both these techniques are very reliable and feasible tools to study the quality of paper-based food packages.