Requirements for packaging from an ageing consumer's perspective

Abstract

The overall objective of this research was to explore ageing consumers' attitudes towards currently available food packaging in New Zealand. Ninety-nine individuals (over the age of 60) in New Zealand were surveyed to determine packaging attributes of importance when selecting food products. This was followed with a focus group of 13 individuals to discuss improvements to packaging. Frequencies of responses were calculated for the survey data, and crosstabulations and chi-square tests were used to determine the relationships between variables. Price, safety, size of packaging and ability to recycle were of most importance to these individuals. Problems encountered with food packaging included tight lids, small printing and spillage during opening. Of the types of package closures investigated, opening of packages, rather than resealing of packages proved problematic. Fifty percent or more of respondents indicated that peelable induction seals, lug closures and continuous thread closures were problems that occurred 'very often' or 'frequently'. Sixty-one percent of the participants surveyed had asked for assistance opening some types of packages, and this was particularly prevalent among individuals who had weakness in their arms, hands or wrists. Changes to package closures suggested during the focus groups included increasing the size of twist off caps, larger ring pulls on aluminium cans and including more sliding resealable closures on foil and plastic packaging. Larger printing on labels was also recommended by the participants.

Acceptability of Convenience Food Among Older People

“…They appreciated clear information and easy-to-read markings. Our results are in line with earlier findings on older people's requirements for food packaging (Duizer et al, 2009;Heiniö et al, 2017;Rusko et al, 2011). Like Heiniö et al (2017) and Sudbury-Riley (2014), the older people in our study emphasized the importance of the environmental impacts of packaging.…”

The environmental impact of packaging in food supply chains—does life cycle assessment of food provide the full picture?

“…• Food damage by inappropriate packaging (Corrado et al 2017) • Expired food (Corrado et al 2017) • Unsold food (Corrado et al 2017) Food waste in households • Food not eaten due to preparation of excess food (Corrado et al 2017) • Food not eaten due to passed best-before date (Corrado et al 2017) • Food not eaten due to inappropriate packaging size (Corrado et al 2017;Williams et al 2012) • Food spilled due to inappropriate opening devices of packaging (Duizer et al 2009) • Food not eaten due to difficulty of completely emptying packaging (Williams et al 2012) • Food not eaten due to decrease in quality (insufficient protection) (Verghese et al 2015) optimization of packaging. Accordingly, it was assumed that most food LCAs before 2007 did not consider the indirect environmental impact of packaging.…”

How wide do you want the jar?: the effect on diameter for ease of opening for wide‐mouth closures

“…That 'openability' of packaging is an increasing issue is demonstrated by several recent publications in this area. 1,2 In the work by Duizer et al, which looked at attitudes to packaging by the over 60s, it was shown that over 50% of respondents indicated that peelable induction seals, lug closures and continuous thread closures had problems in opening that occurred 'very often' or 'frequently'. Sixty-one per cent of the participants surveyed had asked for assistance opening some types of packages, and this was particularly prevalent among individuals who had weakness in their arms, hands or wrists.…”