Food & Beverage

Pandemic puts single-use packaging in a new light

Even before the Spanish Flu pandemic struck the world more than a century ago, single-use packaging was getting its start as a problem-solver when it comes to public health threats.

Photo: iStock

July 2, 2020

By Natha Dempsey/president, Foodservice Packaging Institute

Bags, wrappers, burger boxes and fry containers are among the flurry of single-use food packaging every QSR uses daily not just to contain menu items, but to keep them at the correct temperature, free from contaminants and even emblazon them with the colors, look and logo of the brand in question. In fact, these objects are so basic to what QSR operators do every day, it can be easy to take them for granted and overlook the real benefits they've brought to the world.
The onset of the scourge of COVID-19 in our world, however, warrants a look back at how and why much of this type of packaging was created in the first place. In fact more than 100 years ago, another health threat was instrumental in giving birth to the now ubiquitous paper cup.

That's when Kansas doctor, public health officer and reformer, Samuel J. Crumbine, started a campaign to end the use of the so-called "common cup," a ladle or cup that was typically attached to a public drinking fountain and used by all those taking a sip there at the start of the twentieth century.

The doctor — after witnessing a healthy child drink from a public-use metal cup immediately after a patient with tuberculosis had drunk from it — led a campaign to have these public drinking cups banned.

His campaign to end the use of such cups caught on and the "Health Kup," the first paper cup was born. That container was aptly named for its purpose of preventing the spread of disease and since then, single-use packaging has held the same the sanitary benefits for food service operators and their customers.

The 1918 pandemic

Beyond single-use packaging's key role in the world's current COVID-19 pandemic, such products have played critical roles in past events, like the 1918 Spanish flu that killed 50 million people globally. Across Kansas at the time, Crumbine advised the public not only to refrain from the use of common cups, but also not to spit on sidewalks, which he said would spread germs.

Today, several studies confirm the sanitary benefits of single-use packaging. Conducted by winners of the Samuel J. Crumbine Consumer Protection Award, health departments in Sacramento County, California, and Maricopa County, Arizona, showed this after uncovering evidence of coliform bacteria and increased microbial levels on reusable items tested, compared to their single-use counterparts.

Single-use foodservice packaging is manufactured, packed and shipped to arrive clean at restaurants and other eating and drinking establishments, like hospital cafeterias. When properly stored and handled, these single-use items offer the most sanitary option to serve customers.

The sanitary benefits of single-use items are undeniable, particularly in the everyday life of a QSR. In truth though, all food service establishments are realizing that these go-to products are minimizing the threat of foodborne illnesses and ensuring the safe and sanitary delivery of foods and beverages.

Natha Dempsey is president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute, the trade association for the North American foodservice packaging industry. She advocates for the interests of the industry and champions its efforts to expand recycling and composting of foodservice packaging. For seven years, she administered the Crumbine Award.