Packaging technology

One word in this list misleads an English reader on the pallet: die Stretchfolie. English ‘foil’ is metal, the aluminium sheet in the kitchen drawer. German die Folie is any thin, flexible sheet, and in a packaging hall it is nearly always plastic: die Stretchfolie is stretch film, die Schrumpffolie shrink film, die Frischhaltefolie cling film. When German means the metal it says so in the compound, die Alufolie. Both words go back to Latin folium, a leaf, and each language kept a different kind of leaf. So Die Palette wird mit Stretchfolie umwickelt is a pallet wrapped in film, not in foil, and a supplier asked for ‘Folie’ will quote for plastic unless told otherwise. The rest of the list follows the pack from its barrier layer and seal seam through the drop test to the register every producer has to join.