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contributing in no small measure to the general improvement in the
presentation of clean, safe food to the public. It is hoped that this
trend will continue and become the standard for all cooked foods.
As yet we have no shop in the Borough retailing refrigerated
pre-packed butchers meat, but it is expected several progressive traders
will develop a mode of distribution along these lines. The result,
however, may be that there will be little or no difference in the flavour
of home killed and frozen or chilled imported meat, where the cutting
up and pre-packaging is done some distance away from the place of
sale. This is the view offered by the opponents of the scheme. If this
method of pre-packing meat becomes fashionable and is accepted by
the public as a whole, the enforement of the Merchandise Marks Act
and subsequent regulations requiring meat from foreign countries to
be marked will be more complicated than hitherto.
We are told that the grocery trade sell nearly eighty per cent of
its goods in packages. For the consumer, the packaging of food
promises quality, purity and freshness, and within certain limits, full
weight and measure. In self-service retailing, of course, the package is
all important. Not only does the appearance of the package and its
label take the place of the salesman in the retail shop, but the wrapping
must also be a barrier which will be a safeguard against excessive
evaporation, without inducing mould growth, and against decomposition
and staleness. Conditions of moisture, humidity, temperature
and pressure may be critical for the preservation of foods in the best
possible state. There are dangers arising not only from the effect of
the packaging material on the food but also from the reverse influence
of the food on the container.
It is not, therefore, a matter for surprise that great competition in a
nearly free industry and the rapid development of self-service in food
shops have brought into the limelight new forms of containers and
wrappings, and new ways of obtaining freedom from undesirable
adjuncts of packaging systems. Pottery, paperboard, plastic films,
liquid envelopes, gums, glues and synthetic resins, glass, metals, paper
coated with polythene— all these and others were on view at the
exhibition organised by the Institute of Packaging. It is doubtful
whether metal cans will replace bottles as the usual containers of beer,
whilst cardboard as a wrapping for milk seems to have failed to gain
favour among retail distributors of milk. The housewife wants a pack
which can be opened easily, pours easily and can conveniently be
carried in the shopping basket.
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