Many different factors should be taken into attention when examining the effect of sustainable and environmentally friendly food packaging on consumer behavior. One of these factors is attraction and branding. These two factors are more about appearance. The information on it and the ease of accessing this information take the second place. Another important topic of food packaging that needs to be examined is food safety. The packaging should not contaminate the food, in other words, it should be healthy. Today, the fastest and most effective ways to achieve this are nanotechnology, smart and active packaging. Food packaging plays a critical role in ensuring food safety and influencing consumer behavior, as it not only protects food from contamination and damage, but also communicates important information to consumers that influences their purchasing decisions and perceptions of food safety.
Since humans have become more conscious, the market has also become more competitive. Little things started to make a lot of difference such as packaging, which is playing immense role in today’s marketplace. Although, it doesn’t attract to much attention but packaging is like little salesman, which gives a lot of information about product and its brand to consumers. As we explore the fascinating world of packaging, we can see how it effects consumer behavior. According to Vasiuta & Arkhipova (2021), neuromarketing shows us different side of look into impact of packaging desing on consumer behavior (pp. 14-20). Their research proves that even color, shape, and imagery of packaging influences people by subconsciously. Visuals on products can be great trigger for decision of making purchase. But it doesn’t end with only aesthetics. As stated by Paweł’s (2021), one of things that people look at product is country of origin (pp. 2-15). Nowadays, where consumers are more concious about where their food comes from, origin of product has a significant affect on their choice of product. This shows us that transperency and authencity of food market becoming more important everyday.
In recent years, sustainable packaging has become center of interest by their influence on consumers behavior. Two of studies, directed by Friedrich (2020), and Kapse (2023), researched about consumer attitudes and preferences towards to sustainable packaging materials.
Friedrich’s research (2020) studied to understand how consumers perceive wood-polymer packagng over traditonal materials when it comes to convenience (pp. 1-10). The purpose of study was to determine if shoppers think that wood-polymer packakging as more friendly and if so, whether this thought affects their purchase choices. And according to Friedrich (2020), results were interesting, which shows that customers do prefer wood-polymer, because they view wood-polymer packaging as more environmentally option (pp. 1-10). Since consumers have become more conscious and worried about environment, they are looking for things packed in ways that has a smaller negative impact on the environment. The study showed that this impact influences decision of consumers who are more concerned about nature choose more eco-friendly materials like wood-polymer. Also, Kapse et al. (2023) conducted the study India to reseach the influence of sustainable packaging’s aesthetics on consumer behaviour (pp. 236-243). Their research was focused on how consumer opinions and choices to buy changes by aesthetic qualities and designing of sustainable packaging. The results were intriguing and show that attractive sustainable packaging designs have a positive effect on consumer choices. And such packaging leads to customers to believe that more appealing package means more quality. At the end leading to increased purchase intentions. This shows the critical role of sustainable design that doesn’t only attract consumers’ attention also enhance the overall brand perception.
The part that we need to examine in detail after consumer behavior is food safety. When examining food safety, it was divided into two parts. First of all, it is necessary to talk about food health, and then the methods that have been developed recently to protect this health. Food health is one of the most important issues globally. Because food-related death and hospitalization rates are very high. According to Allen and Kaferstein(1983), studies conducted only in the region of Asia outside of China, more than one billion children under the age of 5 have been diagnosed with contaminated food annually, and 5 million of these children have died (pp. 86-89). The results of this study, which was carried out in only a small population, are dire for humanity. As it can be understood, the importance of food health is very great and it is now known that the most important reason threatening food health is wrong packaging and the content of the package. According to Gökmen (2022), packaging that does not cause environmental pollution is essential in order to preserve the freshness and nutritive content of foods, that is, to avoid bacterial contaminants that is, these packages must be produced from renewable carbon sources or biodegradable packages made from biological polymers must be converted into CO2, water and biomass, making them suitable for reuse (pp.172-180). On the other hand, as Çelik and Tümer (2017) explain,the importance of hydrogels in packaging production, which is produced from biological polymers and can be degraded in nature that is mentioned that hydrogels can be a good source in controlling the humidity inside the packaging containers to prevent bacterial contamination (pp.180-188). It has been emphasized that packages cannot be used much in industry due to their emulsifying and adhesive properties. Çelik and Tümer (2017) claims that recommend producing hydrogels and packaging using PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone) to eliminate this disadvantage (pp.180-188). Thus, the contamination rate in foods will be reduced to very low levels and will also be preferred in the industry.
Safe packaging is required to ensure food safety. New inventions have been made recently for this packaging process. Nanotechnology, which is a very advanced field in the field of medicine, is also developing in food packaging. Although the effects of nanomaterials on human health and legal regulations are still debated, the number of nanomaterials used in the market currently exceeds 11 million tons. One of the most important reasons for this is that the application of nanotechnology extends the shelf life and increases the quality of food.The use of nanotechnology in food packaging falls within the industrial field of polymer-nanotechnology, which includes all processes for the production of polymeric materials below 100 nm. According to Coskun and her friends (2017) this area is examined under 3 sub-titles; antimicrobial nanopackaging, antimicrobial nanocomposite film and nanosensors(pp. 56-61). Antimicrobial nanopackaging has a wide field of study, from silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) used in polymeric films to its use as an antimicrobial agent in storage containers and chopping boards. From other compounds; Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a nanocomposite and a potential packaging material, titanium dioxide (TiO2) has also been found to be an environmentally friendly, non-toxic materialAnother method, antimicrobial nanocomposite film, can solve the shelf life problems of foodstuffs by providing structural integrity and barrier properties. According to Bledsoe and Rasco(2018) by using nanosensors, it can be ensured that the packaging changes color as a result of deterioration or any contamination, giving signals to people(pp. 72-74). Although nanosensors are not in packaging, the safety of foods can be controlled quickly by using nano-biosensors at the control stage.
As a result, the first priority of food packaging is to protect food from contamination and keep food safe. It also has features such as attracting customers with its attractiveness and making an impact on sales. In the structure of food packaging, mostly sustainable natural polymers or nanopolymers are used, but in addition, the color, texture and physical structure that attracts the attention of the customers should be provided.
