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A Guide to Food Containers

A common practice to store food is the use of used paint buckets. This is extremely dangerous since micro amounts of paint still stick to the sides and bottom of the bucket despite meticulous cleaning and scrapping, thus finally leaching into food. The usual way of washing food does not ensure the separation of these micro-particles from food either.

Another example is the use of inexpensive plastic spoons inside food containers. Take the spoon and inspect the sides closely against a contrasting background and notice that if you are left handed, the right side of the spoon has a smoother surface and if you are right handed, the left side of the spoon has the smoother surface.

What happened here is that, due to constant abrasive movement in and out of food, the side of the spoons have smoothened. While sounds excellent, like a fix, but one must realise that abrasion often shaves off micro amounts of the material. In this case, micro plastics from the sides of the spoon is released into the food, which one unknowingly consumes.

Now, onto using safe food containers, they must have the following non-negotiable qualities in them:

• Air tight
• Leak proof (for storing liquids)
• Odourless
• Non-toxic
• Well manufactured

All these qualities are a result of a combination of materials used, product design and the manufacturing process. Therefore, we'll discuss all three.

Materials Used

The common materials used for the manufacture of food containers are plastics, metals, alloys and clay. All these materials, and any news ones in future, must be judged with respect to cost and health risks.

Pottery is more expensive than others due to the scarcity of potter's clay and the labour involved, but it is the safest and most lasting material so long as you do not mishandle it. It is also the most rewarding to producers since they are manufactured by hand by various pottery communities.

Plastics are the most inexpensive of the lot, however they are toxic materials. Even if they are manufactured in high quality such that it doesn't leach out, over time, all materials wither and leach out. And people have the tendency to use products beyond their life cycles.

Metals and alloys can be slightly more expensive than plastics if not the same, but they are way inexpensive than pottery. However they do pose any health risks if properly manufactured. They are a fine balance of cost and health safety. For this reason, we suggest the use of metals and alloy container over plastics and potteries whenever possible.

Product Design and Manufacturing

The scope of this post is not to explore the various product design frameworks or manufacturing processes, but convince the reader that bad product designs and cheap manufacturing processes can results in products of sub par quality. This sub par quality, in the case of food containers, often end up in health risks.

In the case of pottery, any chemicals used in the clay has the potential to leach into what is stored in it overtime. There is hardly any harmful chemicals in pottery since this manufacturing is a time tested manufacturing. But just making the point.

In the case of metals and alloys, two of the most dangerous health threats are the rusting of utensils and leaching of the metal/alloy into food over time. Improperly manufactured metal or alloy utensils often result in these risks.

In the case of plastics, improper manufacturing can lead to the contamination of BPA in utensils, which is a known carcinogen. It can also lead to physical leaching of plastic particles as in the case of food containers from restaurant take away and deliveries. Look closely at the sides of the lid and you can find plastic fibres protruding out of the edges. This can easily break-off into your fingers when you open and close the lid (especially if it is tight), and contaminate the food you eat.

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