How does glass help preserve the taste of products?

Glass is made from natural ingredients – making it best for preserving taste and quality​. As a tasteless and odourless material with no chemical interaction, glass prevents the transfer of flavours and preserves the colour and texture of food and beverages. Thanks to its inertness and protective properties, glass acts as a secure barrier against external influences, ensuring the product’s integrity and preserving its taste. For these reasons, scientific research (such as Dieter Schrenk’s 2014 findings) has found that glass is proven to preserve product flavour and quality, compared to other food packaging materials.

Why does taste matter in packaging?

Taste is one of the most important human senses and a crucial element of the consumer’s sensory experience with a product. Studies have demonstrated that the composition, shape and even colour of packaging can greatly influence taste. Charles Spencer, an experimental psychology professor at Oxford University, claims that “at least half of our experience of food and drink is determined by the forgotten flavour senses of vision, sound, and touch.”

From the colour of a glass bottle to the iconic sound of two containers clinking together, everything about glass contributes to an enhanced taste experience that engages all the senses. But that’s not all the reasons why glass is the packaging of choice for different food and beverage products, such as spirits, wines and beers (InSites Study, 2017)

According to a study conducted by Friends of Glass, taste preservation is the second most important reason consumers choose glass, surpassed only by health safety.  That’s because glass preserves the natural flavours, odours and textures of products, while conserving their quality and extending their shelf-life. And the preservation properties of glass don’t stop here.

Glass is one of the most effective packaging materials for protecting food and beverages, as it forms a protective barrier that prevents any loss of quality or taste. With glass there is no scalping of undesirable flavours from the packaging into the food and beverages.

That’s why it’s widely used by the food, beverages, spirits, and dairy industries to package their products, such as:

• Wine: Glass is the first choice for wine lovers, as it doesn’t alter the taste or quality of the wine – keeping it fresh for longer. Its strength, hermetic qualities, weight and inertness features also make glass the ideal choice for wine storage.
• Beer: Glass protects the properties of beer by preserving its taste, odour, colour, and texture.
• Olive oil: The aroma and taste of olive oil is best preserved and enhanced in glass
• Dairy products: Glass protects dairy products from oxygen and heat and doesn’t transfer any foreign scents or flavours to the milk.
• Sauces: Glass protects and showcases the freshness and value of the sauces as well as extending their shelf life.

What’s more, our continuous quest for a more sustainable lifestyle is contributing to the rapid growth of organic food and farming and increasing awareness of the sources and ingredients of our food. That’s why consumers are looking beyond the label and turning their attention to the packaging as an extension of the product itself.