why do some foods, like pickels, still come in a glass jar, but most beverages, like milk, have migrated to waxed paper or plastic containers?

Question

why do some foods, like pickels, still come in a glass jar, but most beverages, like milk, have migrated to waxed paper or plastic containers?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

It’s mostly marketing. Glass jars are a little bit better at staying air tight over plastic but oxidation isn’t a major concern with pickles. Really pickles are cheap enough that the cost of a glass jar doesn’t raise the price of a jar of pickles past were it can be sold profitably. Packaging plays a huge part in people’s perception of quality with glass being seen as a sign of higher quality than plastic. So everyone shoves their pickles in glass jars so that people don’t think their product is inferior.

Pickles always show up to professional food service operations in plastic, either in 1 gallon jugs or 5 gallon buckets.