Ripping open a fat packet of potato chips sure is fun. The fun is not only in the realization that your favorite snack is only a fingers length away, but also due to the momentary thrill of deflating the air filled packet. Kinda similar to bursting bubbles on a bubble wrap.
Have you observed that your fingers have to travel some distance before they make contact with the chips and very few chips, if I may add. Infact, bigger the packet, the more time it takes for your fingers to locate the chips. And, have you ever thought, `Gosh! that packet sure looked like it had more chips before I opened it’. Or, maybe by now you have got so accustomed to paying money to eat air, that it doesnt matter no more.
So, why is your snack packet filled with air in the first place?
The air filled into packets of processed food serves as what is known as a slack fill. Slack fill is the difference between the actual capacity of a packet and the volume of product contained in it. In other words, slack fill is the empty space.
Right from your tetra pak fruit juices, to your cans of aerated drinks, to packets of cornflakes or savouries or pouches of ready to eat meals, slack fill is everywhere. What makes slack fill good or bad in these cases, depends on just how much of it is present.
When is slack fill good (read: legal)?
The law in many countries says that manufacturers can use slack fill if its `functional’, that is, if it allows the manufacturers to protect their product (e.g. potato chips, biscuits, cookies) from damage, or, if the packaging machinery requires existence of such a space to be effective and so on.
Its bad when..
The law also says that `non-functional slack fill’ is not allowed. That is, no manufacturer should leave empty space in their packaging, if its not meant to serve any purpose. But, how many manufacturers will actually admit that the empty space in their packaging do not have a purpose? Any argument would take the proverbial packet is half full (they will say) vs the packet is half empty (you will say) route.
Best part, its routinely used in opaque food packets or packets which dont let you see the inner contents. Rather convenient, I think. Sure its needed to preserve/protect the contents and has some other genuine functions as well, but how does a layperson know whether the air he just purchased along with his food, served any purpose at all and whether all that air was needed in the first place? So you see, slack fill can and is misused.
Some manufacturers use it as an excuse to deliver small food volumes in big (air filled) packets. Apart from giving you less food product for your money, the fat air filled packets also consume lots of space during transportation (and, guess who will bear the cost of the two freight trucks when just one was enough?) making the product more expensive. Bigger packets (to accommodate more air and give an impression of big size) also use more non-biodegradable packing material and burden the environment.
Some manufacturers use it as an excuse to deliver small food volumes in big (air filled) packets. Apart from giving you less food product for your money, the fat air filled packets also consume lots of space during transportation (and, guess who will bear the cost of the two freight trucks when just one was enough?) making the product more expensive. Bigger packets (to accommodate more air and give an impression of big size) also use more non-biodegradable packing material and burden the environment.
All in all, slack fill surely is one of those pins which bursts our rights as a customer and as a human being on this planet.
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