Why we use aluminium household foil for packing food

Aluminium foil has been winning more and more popularity around the world. In addition to refrigeration manufacturers, the rank and file are its biggest consumers. It is now so widely applied in our daily life that aluminium household foil has become a separate category for it. The word “household” indicates its specific usage at home: food packing. Why we use aluminium foil for packing food, anyway? Why don’t we choose other materials that may be cheaper?

In human history so many materials have been put into experiments of food packing, including various leaves (lotus leaf for meat, reed leaf for zongzi etc.), cloth, paper and plastics (still ubiquitous today), but none of them can compete with packing aluminium foil in integrated properties. Leaves break easily, and they are not environmental since there are not enough trees on the earth. Food like zongzi is still wrapped by leaves because people need to keep a tradition. Further more, reed leaves serve as an ingredient for zongzi actually. Cloth is vulnerable to oil and water. Paper has little resistance to either tearing force or liquid, and plastics tend to give off toxin at high temperature. Aluminium foil for food packing, on the other hand, has excellent heat conductivity, tenacity, liquid-proof property, light weight and no toxin. The heat conductivity of aluminum is only second to copper but three times of iron, this makes it an excellent wrapping material for baking food at barbecues. Aluminum foil is able to withstand high temperature of baking without getting burned. It does not break so easily like paper or leaves. With super water-proof ability, it remains intact while wrapping food with liquid like water and oil. Last but not least, it’s regarded as the most environmental food packing material. It contains no toxins, neither does it give off toxins at extreme temperatures. After being used, it can be recycled as well.