Looking for food safe bags for small businesses? A-Pac Manufacturing is here to help! We specialize in manufacturing bags that will keep your products in tip-top shape and allow you to meet every necessary certification. 

Read on to learn more about what kind of bags are food safe and how you can invest in the best possible packaging for your company. 

What Kind of Bags Are Food Safe?

When it comes to food packaging, the goal is to preserve food quality and freshness by protecting it from any chemical or environmental contamination. You also want to save the food from physical damage – whether during storage or transit. 

For a bag to be food-safe, it must meet certain standards established by GFSI (the Global Food Safety Initiative). GFSI helps provide companies and consumers confidence that food is grown, produced, packaged, shipped, and sold safely.

If your business involves food, you are eligible to obtain food safety and compliance certifications. There is an array of certificates to choose from, including:

• ISO 22000 FSMS (Food Safety Management System) certification
• FSSC (Food Safety Management Certification Scheme) 22000 certification
• HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) certification 
• BRCGS (British Retail Consortium Global Standards) packaging certification
• FAMI–QS (Quality and Feed Safety Management System) certification
• SQF (Safe Food Quality) certification
• AIB (American Institute of Baking-food) certification

Note: Look at our Food Safety and Compliance Certifications blog to learn more about each option.  

How Do I Pick the Right Kind of Bag for My Food Product?

Different foods have specific requirements, but they all need bags designed to hold food. If your product is frozen, the packaging will need to be able to withstand freezing temperatures and be thick enough to avoid freezer burn. Or, if your product is freshly-baked bread, a thin, sealed poly bag would be best to keep moisture in and the bread nice and soft.

Plastic bags are a popular choice for food storage because they’re affordable, flexible, and versatile. They come in various sizes, shapes, strengths, and thicknesses. At A-Pac Manufacturing, we offer an extensive collection of plastic bag packaging options.

We offer various types of poly bags, including flat, wicketed, gusseted, sideweld, and bottom-seal. Two-dimensional flat poly bags are commonly used and are a versatile solution for a wide range of products and applications, such as bread, meat, and poultry. 

Gusseted poly bags are also a popular choice. These bags have expandable sides and flat bottoms to accommodate lots of different food products, including coffee, bulk nuts, and cookies. 

Invest in Custom Food Safe Bags for Small Businesses

Are you interested in purchasing custom-made food-safe bags for your small business? Look no further than A-Pac Manufacturing! We offer food-safe bags that are fully customizable to fit your needs and set your business apart. 

At A-Pac Manufacturing, we specialize in custom poly bag solutions with rapid lead times with no minimum order requirements. Our custom-printed poly bags can replicate any logo or color palette and can be made using flat bags, wicketed bags, zipper bags, gusseted bags, and poly bags with tape closure.

Contact our team to learn more about how we can help you with your custom food packaging needs!

If you want to learn how to package food for sale – you’re in the right place! Here’s what you need to know about food packaging requirements and how you can make the most out of your small business.

How to Package Food for Sale: Everything You Need to Know

Packaging Different Types of Foods

How you package your food will depend on the type of food it is. Each category needs to be packed in a specific way to ensure freshness, adhere to food safety guidelines, and maintain quality. 

Canned Foods and Sauces

Salad dressings, condiments, and similar products are treated with heat to kill bacteria and then hermetically sealed to keep out pathogens that compromise shelf life. If you’re packaging a product that must be sterilized and sealed, it’s best to work with a lab that tests the safety of food products to ensure that your processes are safe and scalable.

Shelf-Stable Snack Products

Products such as crackers and cookies don’t need the same degree of processing, but the packaging can still affect the shelf life. If your product requires airtight packaging to keep it from growing stale, you should invest in vacuum packing and heat sealing equipment.

If you’re selling these products on a smaller scale and they’ll be consumed quickly, twist ties or zipper bags could be a solid option. 

Shelf-Stable Dried Grains

Dried grains, beans, and pasta don’t need airtight packaging, which gives flexibility when choosing packaging materials (paper bags, cardboard boxes, and plastic bags are popular options). The long shelf lives of these foods can give off the impression that they will last indefinitely, but they still grow stale eventually, so they should be tested for shelf life and marked with pull dates.

Refrigerated Products

Refrigeration extends the shelf life of many food products by slowing down the growth of bacteria. It can also dry out food, so products stored in the refrigerator should be handled specially. 

Cold food products can be packaged in containers that are sealed simply by closing (plastic containers with snap-on lids, jars with tops that can be tightened by hand, etc.). Adding a sticker/seal is recommended to make your product tamper evident.

Hot Prepared to Refrigerated Products

Foods that are prepared hot and put in the refrigerator (such as soup, prepared meals, etc.) should be completely cooled down before packaging to prevent condensation. 

Frozen Products 

Like refrigerated items, frozen products must be packaged carefully to avoid freezer burn. The freezing process extends the shelf life far beyond what refrigeration does (it’s more expensive and requires more equipment). 

To prevent freezer burn, lower the temperature of your product before the freezing point as quickly as possible. If your product still contains a lot of moisture, wait to seal your packages until the contents are frozen solid. A blast chiller is a highly convenient tool to aid with this. 

It’s also crucial to choose packaging materials that hold up in freezing temperatures and are thick enough to protect the food. Plastic bags that work for shelf-stable and freezable products may be too thin to protect frozen foods. Certain glass containers can shatter at freezing temperatures – always be sure to choose materials that can withstand the temperature at which you will be storing them.

Packaging Features For Your Small Business

When you’re choosing packaging for your business’s products, know that it will significantly affect the well-being of what you’re selling. 

That’s not all, though – it also can alter how consumers will view your product and if they’re incentivized to buy it. Read on to learn about more important packaging features. 

FDA Compliant Items

The FDA requires five key elements on a food packaging label. They’re found on the principal display panel and information panel.

• Statement of identity
• Net weight of the product
• Address of the manufacturer
• Nutrition facts
• Ingredients list

Correctly-Sized Packaging

A product should always have the correct size and shape packaging – a fundamental retail rule is that your packaging should never be larger than necessary. Extra material can affect the safety and condition of its contents. Plus, the consumer will be disappointed when they open a bag of potato chips only to find that it’s halfway full. 

Food-grade poly bags are a top-notch option for small businesses selling edible products. If you need assistance picking the right size for your goods, take a look at our helpful measuring guide. 

Branded Labeling

Designing the label for your product is one of the most exciting parts of starting a business! Choose your brand’s unique color scheme, fonts, and overall aesthetic. Don’t forget to include the product’s name, a description of the food, the address where it was made, and any other important information that the consumer would want to know (it’s organic, handmade, etc.)

Are you interested in getting custom-made food-grade poly bags? A-Pac Manufacturing Company has partnered with an industry-leading flexible packaging printer to offer custom-printed, high-quality bags. Our custom-printed bags can replicate any logo or color palette and can be made using flat bags, wicketed bags, zipper bags, gusseted bags, and poly bags with tape closure.

Purchase High-Quality Packaging For Your Business

Do you have more questions about packaging food for sale? Get in touch with A-Pac Manufacturing. We offer custom, food-grade poly bag packaging options with no minimum order and fast 2-3 week lead times. Get in touch with us or request a free quote today!

If you want to know how to package your product for retail, you’re in the right place. Just read on!

How to Package Your Product for Retail

Whether you’re trying to determine the right packaging size or what branding options to go with, A-Pac Manufacturing is here to help. Here’s a guide to how to package your product for retail. 

1. Choose Your Ideal Type of Packaging

Here at A-Pac Manufacturing, we offer a diverse range of plastic bag packaging options. Whether you’re selling small plastic beads, bulky building supplies, or delicious food, we’ve got the right bag for you. 

The types of poly bags that we offer include flat, wicketed, gusseted, sideweld, and bottom-seal. Two-dimensional flat poly bags are the most common and are a versatile solution for a wide range of products and applications, such as bread, meat, and poultry. 

Gusseted poly bags have expandable sides and flat bottoms to accommodate a variety of products, including coffee, bulk nuts, and cookies. These bags can stand up when filled and are significant space-savers for many applications. 

It’s important that you choose the right bag for your business. Browse our online inventory to discover what works best for you. 

2. Determine the Best Size of Packaging

Choosing the right bag size is crucial. Your bag must be large enough to fit your product properly and also protect it against dirt, debris, and moisture. You also don’t want to use a poly bag that is too big. With extra material, you risk generating unnecessary waste and extra costs.

To determine the best size packaging, take measurements of your product’s length, width, and depth. If your items are flat or two-dimensional, basic flat poly bags will be fine and they come in standard measurements.

Take note that if your item is three-dimensional or oddly shaped, you’ll need a poly bag that can fit comfortably around and cover all its parts. Measure the space the product will take up on the bag from the widest points to find the minimum size bag you need. 

3. Get Custom Bags To Reflect Your Brand

Your packaging is the face of your business. It will identify your product on the shelves and let your customers know what’s inside the bag. Packaging should clearly communicate everything you want your brand to represent. The best way to do this is by investing in custom-printed bags. 

At A-Pac Manufacturing, we’ve partnered with an industry-leading flexible packaging printer to offer custom-printed, high-quality poly bags for your food, industrial, and medical packaging needs. We invest in digital color-matching and an 8-color process system to deliver eye-catching graphics, logos, and color palettes for custom-printed poly bags.

Our one-of-a-kind custom poly bags can be made using flat bags, wicketed bags, zipper bags, gusseted bags, and poly bags with tape closure. We know that the type of bag you use for your product matters, and we strive to offer you the best options to choose from.

Invest in the Best Packaging for Your Business

Do you need to get your project retail ready? Poly bags offer a customizable, affordable, and effective solution. With no minimum order requirements, A-Pac Manufacturing can help you get your product into the retail world quickly and affordably. Contact us today!