Almost anything you pick up these days related to food and beverages – a plastic bottle, a takeout food container or a plastic serving cup, to name just a few items – has a label on the bottom that tells you a lot about the type of plastic you’re holding – from that item’s durability to how shatterproof it is. These labels include Tritan, PC, PP, and others. Consumers who read these labels learn and come to understand these food contact plastic types, and thereby learn how to buy smart and avoid products that don’t last. What does that mean for different brands and product manufacturers? It means that the resin chosen to make the product significantly affects the item’s lifespan, compliance with regulations, and how well the product performs when it leaves the laboratory and hits the consumer marketplace.
Our guide here takes you through common food contact plastics, from single-use to reusable. We also offer info on one bonus material that appears a lot in food contact plastic applications, even though it rarely gets much attention. Read on!
Reusable Food Contact Plastic
PP (Polypropylene)
PP is thought of as the workhorse of food contact plastic containers. It’s almost translucent and not too costly to mass produce. It copes well with high microwave settings, hot water, and even repeated dishwasher cycles. Hinged lids made of PP are the standard because they flex easily. Its chief drawbacks are that it’s not completely clear, and strong odours may linger on it if it’s used repeatedly for foods like tomato sauce or curry.
For brands that need large volumes, PP is the logical choice. It’s considered functional rather than premium, but it’s ideal for food contact plastic products like meal prep containers. Let’s say, for example, your kitchen puts together many green salads in a shift. PP food containers are great when staff are continuously opening and closing containers of lettuce, onion slices, and perhaps cucumber. In that setting, function matters more than visual appeal, so PP food contact plastic containers are perfect. They are economical to produce, and they last a long time – a win-win in most settings!
AS/SAN (Acrylonitrile Styrene/Styrene Acrylonitrile)
This food contact plastic may be awkward to pronounce, but it’s a step up in visual appeal. It’s clearer and glossier than PP, but it’s equally inexpensive to produce. It’s often the plastic product of choice used to make tumblers and large and small bowls for mixing foods. However, it’s considerably more brittle than PP, meaning it cracks and chips more easily during usage and storage. If dropped, it may shatter or break.
Consequently, products made of AS/SAN are a good choice when appearance is a priority over their potential delicacy when handling. Using this plastic for promotional items or display items is a smart idea, rather than when you need repeated use or daily carry plastic bottles. Buyers should consider whether the risk of breakage is outweighed by these products’ visual appeal.
MS (Methylstyrene)
MS offers a transparent, almost glass-like finish, often chosen as the plastic product used in drinkware and containers. This material lends an upscale look to your brand, yet doesn’t cost the upscale price of, for example, acrylic. However, like AS/SAN, it may crack or chip easily, and its tolerance for high temperatures is limited.
If you’re part of a procurement team, consider that MS is best suited to component parts, items that are part of a larger item, such as the lids for drink cups. This material is best for products that won’t have to cope with high heat or constant impact.
PMMA/Acrylic (Polymethyl Methacrylate)
This type of acrylic offers a truly glass-like finish, both glossy and clear. It won’t yellow over time, which is why it’s a big favourite of those wanting decorative tumblers and display items. However, it can be brittle and prone to scratches as compared to other food contact plastics. Another caveat, producers say, is that PMMA isn’t suitable for dishwashers or hot liquids.
It’s best suited to food contact plastic applications such as a tumbler, one that sits on a desk rather than is toted around in a gym bag, for example. If you’re a brand marketing acrylic as a product for certain applications your customers use to boost their profile, be candid about its shortcomings and care requirements. Otherwise, consumers may expect one thing – a dishwasher-safe item, for example – and feel let down when they realize the food contact plastic item falls short of their wishes.
PCTG (Polycyclohexylenedimethylene Terephthalate Glycol)
Isn’t that a mouthful? Just remember the acronym, and you’ll do fine! PCTG is a strong co-polyester that has become a hit recently because of its excellent performance. It offers a clear finish and impact resistance, along with being reasonably economical and resistant to chemicals. These features often make PCTG the best “bang for your buck” choice for most food contact plastic products in the mid-range of retail products, such as storage containers and water bottles. It’s long-lasting and PBA-free, yet doesn’t come with a huge price tag. However, there’s a caveat: it’s not as scratch-resistant as Tritan is, nor does it handle high temperatures as well. If these two features are crucial to your food contact plastic products, consider an alternative material.
Tritan
Tritan has been growing in popularity and reputation, so much so that it’s almost the industry standard. This is particularly true when it comes to reusable food containers and drinkware. Tritan food contact plastic is clear, BPA-free, resistant to breaking and chipping, and also resistant to cloudiness and odours. Even when used repeatedly and put in the dishwasher, Tritan food contact plastic products show remarkable durability. It handles repeated daily use well, surpassing products made of PCTG and acrylic.
For B-to-B buyers (business-to-business), Tritan offers the one-two punch of clarity and longevity. These features justify its somewhat higher costs because its durability means lower replacement costs. When customer satisfaction is key – and let’s be honest, when isn’t it vital? – Tritan meets the challenge every time at a reasonable cost.
PC (Polycarbonate)
PC is exceptionally strong and heat-resistant. It won’t crack or break even if dropped repeatedly, and high temperatures in a microwave aren’t a problem. In fact, these features exceed those of acrylic or Tritan. When reusable water bottles are needed, PC is the food contact plastic most often recommended. It’s also the ideal choice for water jugs and baby bottles. However, this food contact plastic has one shortcoming: it contains bisphenol A (BPA), which has caused a significant uproar with both consumers and regulatory bodies during the past 20 years.
This chronic issue is relevant to brands and procurement teams because this food contact plastic’s reputation as somehow unsafe has dogged it for years. Even though BPA-free PC does exist and it meets all industry standards, the old problems can’t be easily shaken with consumers. Anyone sourcing PC food contact plastic products nowadays can attest to lingering doubts about their safety in the minds of consumers, in spite of positive changes to the product. Once a negative reputation has taken root in the public’s consciousness, it is extremely difficult to dislodge, and that’s been proven the case with PC food contact plastic products.
Disposable Food Contact Plastic
PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate)
Almost every food contact plastic disposable water and soda bottle is made of PET. This material is valued because of its clarity, its light weight, and its ability to retain carbonation. It’s made for single use, although it can occasionally be used more than once before being recycled. But this food contact plastic is not made for repeated use, as washing it with hot water and soap ultimately degrades its integrity.
For B2B buyers whose market is beverage packaging, PET’s toughness and suitability for recycling make it the ideal choice. Although single-use plastics are under intense public scrutiny because of environmental concerns, PET is still the best option for individual and family-sized beverage bottles. And yet for consumers, who understand that PET beverage bottles are not really meant to be refilled and often end up in landfills, they are starting to fall out of favour. In order to mitigate this, consumers willingly pour the contents of a PET beverage bottle into a reusable container and then recycle it.
PS (Polystyrene)
This food contact plastic comes in two forms: stiff, clear cups, cutlery, lids, and the white foam containers everyone imagines when thinking of past takeout containers. While this material isn’t costly to produce, it is now the villain of many consumers’ environmental concerns. Furthermore, it doesn’t deal well with heat, so many customers choose an alternative to this food contact plastic because its reputation – fairly or not – is quite poor.
Those who still choose PS often seek another option for their next order, as regulatory bodies continue to get stricter with plastics that are environmentally harmful. Consumers believe that PS should be considered the same way they think of PET – it’s alright for single-use packaging, but not appropriate for reuse and multiple washings.
Bonus: Silicone Rubber, the Material Hiding in Plain Sight
Silicone Rubber
Like all the food contact plastic options we’ve mentioned, silicone rubber comes with a catch. First of all, silicone rubber isn’t a food contact plastic in the usual sense. It’s what’s called a synthetic elastomer, made from silicone, oxygen, and other elements. It crops up constantly in food contact plastics, including ice cube trays, baking mats, spatulas, and baby bottle nipples, to name just a few applications. It offers excellent heat tolerance that surpasses all the other plastics on this list. It withstands both freezer temperatures and, at the other extreme, high oven temperatures as well. It outshines Tritan, PC, and other resins and, furthermore, offers a non-stick surface that doesn’t rely on a coating.
The caveat, and this is important to both consumers and brands, is that silicone rubber quality varies widely between real, food-grade formulations and less expensive ones with filler that have not been stringently tested and certified acceptable for food contact. Unlike strict food contact plastics, for which the resin used has been properly tested, verified, and disclosed, silicone quality is more difficult to assess with the eye. This is why written certification is so vital for suppliers sourcing for B2B buyers. A brand’s reputation is an integral signal to consumers, so choosing the correct one is crucial. Identifying genuine food-grade silicone apart from its inferior alternatives is hugely important!
How to Choose the Right Food Contact Plastic for Your Use Case
Consider how frequently the product will be handled, not simply how it looks. And remember: unit price isn’t everything! How often will it need replacing? How long will its visual appeal last? Will it crack or chip easily? These and other issues are key to choosing the right food contact plastic for your customer. For B2B buyers, it’s important to ask suppliers about resin performance under the product’s use conditions – not simply whether it’s met regulatory guidelines. How a product functions in the real world, not solely under lab conditions, is what counts!
Pair the food contact plastic product with the high and low temperatures it will encounter in real settings. Consider which food contact plastics stand up to high temperatures, and whether that’s something it has to do in your customer’s environment. Is the product safe in a microwave? Will it warp? Look into food contact plastic regulations that govern your customer’s region (North America, the EU, Asia, etc.) A product’s success in real-world environments is ultimately what counts.
Closing Thoughts
There is no “best” food contact plastic that’s right for every application every time. On this list, we’ve outlined the advantages and drawbacks of each one, but you, as suppliers, must apply this guide to your individual customers’ situations. Under certain conditions, PMMA and Tritan are the best option; in other circumstances, another food contact plastic is the right choice. The guiding principle for B2B buyers and consumers is the same: determine their circumstances and decide what to recommend from there. Whatever conditions they’re dealing with are what decide what’s best, which products will satisfy their needs over the long term. The only consistent answer to the “which one?” question is this: it all depends on the conditions they’re facing!
