A foam food container is a form of

disposable food packaging Disposable food packaging comprises disposable products often found in fast food restaurants, takeout restaurants and kiosks, and catering establishments. Food-serving items for picnics and parties are very similar. Typical disposable foodserv ...

for various foods and beverages, such as processed

instant noodles Instant noodles, or instant ramen, is a type of food consisting of noodles sold in a precooked and dried block with flavoring powder and/or seasoning oil. The dried noodle block was originally created by flash frying cooked noodles, and this is ...

, raw meat from supermarkets, ice cream from ice cream parlors, cooked food from

delicatessen Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...

s or food stalls, or beverages like "coffee to go". They are also commonly used to serve

takeout A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...

food from restaurants, and are also available by request for diners who wish to take home the remainder of their meal. The foam is a good thermal insulator, making the container easy to carry as well as keeping the food at the temperature it had when filled into the container, whether hot or cold.

Construction and composition

Foam take-out containers are made from expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam, or another type of

polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...

foam, and produced by injecting the foam into a

mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal seco ...

. They are usually white in color, although they may be printed or impressed with a company logo or other message. EPS foam is sometimes incorrectly called

Styrofoam Styrofoam is a trademarked brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), commonly called "Blue Board", manufactured as foam continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and water barrie ...

as a

generic term Trademark distinctiveness is an important concept in the law governing trademarks and service marks. A trademark may be eligible for registration, or registrable, if it performs the essential trademark function, and has distinctive character. Re ...

. Styrofoam is a trademark of

The Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational corporation, multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three List of largest chemical producers, larges ...

for closed-cell

extruded polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...

(XPS) foam, used for

thermal insulation Thermal insulation is the reduction of heat transfer (i.e., the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature) between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Thermal insulation can be achieved with s ...

and craft applications. By contrast, EPS foam is typically white and made of expanded polystyrene beads, and used for disposable coffee cups, coolers, or as cushioning material in packaging. Another trade name for EPS is thermacol, originated by

BASF BASF Societas Europaea, SE () is a German multinational corporation, multinational chemical company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The ...

Varieties

The different varieties of foam takeout containers may include: * A rectangular shaped clamshell style container with an attached lid, which comes in various sizes. The larger ones usually feature several compartments, allowing different foods to be kept separated from each other. This variety usually features several small projections on the lid of the container, which fit through slots on the bottom half to "lock" it, therefore keeping the cover closed. These containers are leak-resistant only if kept upright, and often have a square imprint area for labeling. * A cylindrical style container with a separate, translucent or opaque plastic lid which can seal tightly to resist leaks. The container may or may not taper somewhat towards the bottom. Both overall size and the ratio of height to diameter can vary greatly. Such containers usually hold soups and stews; however, smaller varieties are often used to hold sauces and condiments.

Chinese cuisine

Foam containers are the most commonly used takeout box for

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many ot ...

s in East and Southeast Asia. It is standard for

Cantonese cuisine Cantonese or Guangdong cuisine, also known as Yue cuisine ( or ) is the cuisine of Guangdong province of China, particularly the provincial capital Guangzhou, and the surrounding regions in the Pearl River Delta including Hong Kong and Maca ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and many parts of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and sometimes used overseas in various restaurants, particularly in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Environmental issues

Foam takeout containers entirely made out of polystyrene foam affect the environment as they do not

biodegrade Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. It is generally assumed to be a natural process, which differentiates it from composting. Composting is a human-driven process in which biodegradati ...

easily. However, microbial degradation of

styrene Styrene () is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5CH=CH2. This derivative of benzene is a colorless oily liquid, although aged samples can appear yellowish. The compound evaporates easily and has a sweet smell, although high concen ...

via

methanogen Methanogens are microorganisms that produce methane as a metabolic byproduct in hypoxic conditions. They are prokaryotic and belong to the domain Archaea. All known methanogens are members of the archaeal phylum Euryarchaeota. Methanogens are com ...

s has been investigated and confirmed, intermediate products being various organic substances and carbon dioxide. ''

Pseudomonas putida ''Pseudomonas putida'' is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped, saprotrophic soil bacterium. Based on 16S rRNA analysis, ''P. putida'' was taxonomically confirmed to be a ''Pseudomonas'' species (''sensu stricto'') and placed, along with several other ...

'' can also convert

oil into various

biodegradable Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. It is generally assumed to be a natural process, which differentiates it from composting. Composting is a human-driven process in which biodegradati ...

polyhydroxyalkanoates Polyhydroxyalkanoates or PHAs are polyesters produced in nature by numerous microorganisms, including through bacterial fermentation of sugars or lipids. When produced by bacteria they serve as both a source of energy and as a carbon store. M ...

. Some cities have banned the use of foam take-out containers, notably

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. In 2013, the mayor of New York City proposed banning foam food containers for both health and environmental reasons. Implementation of this plan was put on hold while the ban was litigated by restaurant owners and polystyrene manufacturers. After three years of litigation, a judge ruled in favor of the city. In 2019, New York State Governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...

proposed a state-wide ban.

Health myths

According to American Cancer society the use of polystyrene is safe for food services . Styrene is considered by both the

EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

and

IARC IARC may refer to: * International Aerial Robotics Competition * International Age Rating Coalition * International Agency for Research on Cancer * International Arctic Research Center * Israel Amateur Radio Club The Israel Amateur Radio Club (IA ...

to be a possible

carcinogen A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...

. It poses a health risk to workers involved in the production of styrene and polystyrene items, and industries have a compliance program to deal with liabilities. Prolonged exposure to high amounts of styrene may affect the central nervous system.

References