National Bulk Bag Blog

When it comes to food safety in manufacturing and processing, choosing the right materials isn’t just important—it’s critical. Food-grade plastics play a pivotal role in food storage and packaging, helping ensure everything from raw ingredients to finished products remains safe and uncontaminated. Whether you’re responsible for packaging milk powders, beans, rice, supplements, or flour, understanding the types of plastic materials available and how they interact with food products is key.

This guide breaks down the basics of food grade plastics, offering tips to help you stay compliant.

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Packaging plays a crucial role in preserving quality and enhancing brand appeal in the vibrant world of spices and seasonings. Selecting the perfect packaging solution involves more than aesthetics; it requires functionality, durability, and cost-effectiveness, especially when dealing with bulk packaging solutions.

The FIBC industry if full of acronyms, terms and jargon that can make it difficult to truly understand the available products and their uses. One example of this confusion centers around the use of the terms “Feed Grade” and “Food Grade.” Many people mistakenly assume that feed grade and food grade mean the same thing, when in reality they are very different. Understanding the differences between the two can help you ensure you are sourcing the proper bulk bags for your specific needs. Let’s explore the definitions and uses for each type of bag.

As the market for FIBCs has grown and matured over the years, we at National Bulk Bag have learned that different industries use bulk bags for different purposes. However, no matter what your industry or application and/or product, controlling insects in and around your facility can often be a challenge. This is especially true for the food industry where insects and other pests can ruin product produce millions of dollars in damages.

Bulk bags are a versatile, flexible, lightweight, and durable storage and/or transportation vessel. Because of this, there are thousands of various applications across a plethora of industries. However, there are certain industries where it almost seems like FIBCs were made to be used. One of those industries is the supplements industry.

GFSI is at the center of all things food grade in the FIBC industry. As the largest food safety organization in the world, their ability to recognize and certify the various food safety programs is critical to any products involved in the production, distribution, or processing of food. This is why at National Bulk Bag we only distribute food grade bags that have been certified by GFSI recognized organizations. Five of the many GFSI recognized programs most impact the bulk bag industry – we wrote about them in this post (click here to learn more).

At National Bulk Bag, we pride ourselves in maintaining up-to-date industry knowledge and information, especially as it relates to food grade FIBCs. The food industry is particularly sensitive given the large regulatory environment – and rightfully so. Having the trust of the food processors and producers we sell to is extremely important to our reputation as a distributor.

We talk a lot about food grade FIBCs on this blog. At National Bulk Bag, we believe (especially in the food grade industry) it’s extremely important to build an educational database for our customers and potential customers. The food industry is a heavily regulated industry where mistakes can be extremely costly. Contamination, regulatory violations, and improper food handling are unacceptable and can be downright dangerous.

BRC (British Retail Consortium), now recently rebranded to BRCGS (British Retail Consortium Global Standards) has recently updated the guidelines for their standards with their Issue 8 release.

Staying up with the latest and most innovative trends in the FIBC industry is extremely important as a distributor of bulk bags. However, it is equally important for buyers, suppliers, and/or anyone else involved in the industry. This is especially true when it comes to the trends regarding the food industry and food grade bags due to the delicate nature of the industry.

Today’s consumers are more conscious than ever about the quality of food they eat. This is apparent whether you are shopping at your local grocery store or dining at your local farm to fork restaurant. To ensure these expectations are met, many in the food supply chain industry require independent verification from their vendors and suppliers that they are consistently practicing proper food safety and quality measures.

Today’s consumers are more conscious than ever about the quality of the food they eat.  To ensure these expectations are met, many in the food supply chain industry require verification from their vendors and suppliers that they are consistently practicing proper food safety and quality measures.

GFSI, or Global Food Safety Initiative, is an initiative that brings together key actors of the food industry to collaboratively drive continuous improvement in food management safety systems around the world. Together, these actors work on a multitude of projects to drive global change in food safety.

There’s quite a bit of confusion encompassing food grade bulk bags. There are so many regulatory bodies and entities that offer guidelines on food packaging that it’s hard to keep track of! There’s AIB (American Institute of Baking), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point), ISO 22000 (International Organization for Standardization) BRC (British Retail Consortium) and, the latest and greatest, GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative).

Food safety in the packaging industry is ever evolving and stricter industry standards and government regulations are becoming the norm. On top of tougher standards, there are more third party accreditations that are recognized and sometimes required by large food manufacturers and retailers to keep track of.

Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers, also known as FIBCs, are used in a variety of facilities including food manufacturing and food processing plants. Food grade bulk bags are a great option for transporting and storing food and food related products. Lets examine the five biggest reasons why successful commercial food companies use food grade bags over alternative handling methods.

When transporting and storing food grade products with FIBCs (flexible intermediate bulk containers), it’s important to have safe and secure bags that meet the strict requirements set forth by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration), and to purchase them from a supplier whose bags are manufactured in a BRC certified facility. BRC meets the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) standards.

When determining what FIBC (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container) is right for you, there is a lot to consider. One of the most important factors that will determine what type of bag is right for your application is what you are packing in the bag. This is particularly important when transporting and/or storing materials that are sensitive to outside contamination and subject to government and/or 3^rd party standards. Naturally, the food industry fits perfectly into this category.