page_title: Aluminium foil
section_title: Packaging
hierarchical_section_title: Aluminium foil / Uses / Packaging
caption_attribution_description: English: Reese&#39;s Peanut Butter Cups miniatures.
context_page_description: Aluminium foil is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves with a thickness less than 0.2 mm; thinner gauges down to 6 micrometres are also commonly used. In the United States, foils are commonly measured in thousandths of an inch or mils. Standard household foil is typically 0.016 mm thick, and heavy duty household foil is typically 0.024 mm. The foil is pliable, and can be readily bent or wrapped around objects. Thin foils are fragile and are sometimes laminated with other materials such as plastics or paper to make them stronger and more useful. Aluminium foil supplanted tin foil in the mid 20th century.
  Annual production of aluminium foil was approximately 800,000 tonnes in Europe and 600,000 tonnes in the U.S. in 2003. Approximately 75% of aluminium foil is used for packaging of foods, cosmetics, and chemical products, and 25% is used for industrial applications. It can be easily recycled.
  In North America aluminium foil was popularised by Reynolds Metals, the leading manufacturer in North America. In the United Kingdom and United States it is, informally, widely called tin foil, for historical reasons.
context_section_description: Aluminium is used for packaging as it is highly malleable: it can be easily converted to thin sheets and folded, rolled or packed. Aluminium foil acts as a total barrier to light and oxygen (which cause fats to oxidise or become rancid), odours and flavours, moistness, and germs, and so it is used broadly in food and pharmaceutical packaging, including long-life packs (aseptic packaging) for drinks and dairy goods, which allows storing without refrigeration. Aluminium foil containers and trays are used to bake pies and to pack takeaway meals, ready snacks and long life pet foods.
  Aluminium foil is widely sold into the consumer market, often in rolls of 500 mm (20 in) width and several metres in length. It is used for wrapping food in order to preserve it, for example, when storing leftover food in a refrigerator (where it serves the additional purpose of preventing odour exchange), when taking sandwiches on a journey, when baking, or when selling some kinds of take-away or fast food. Tex-Mex restaurants in the United States, for example, typically provide take-away burritos wrapped in aluminium foil.
caption: Chocolates in aluminium foil packaging
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