How the changing market for packaging is weighing on food prices

McCormick & Company, the manufacturer of Old Bay seasoning and other spices and sauces, announced its packaging costs increased last quarter on its earnings call Thursday morning.

That comes as food prices jumped overall 0.7% in December, month over month.

McCormick switched packaging for Old Bay seasoning from a plastic to a tinplate container, said Matt Reynolds, chief editor of Packaging World Magazine. He said the new tin-and-steel can looks better on store shelves and customers can reuse it.

“It also has a lot of nostalgic, vintage kind of feel,” he said.

But those vintage cans are getting more expensive, in large part because of 50% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, said Jason Miller, supply chain management professor at Michigan State University.

“If you’re a canned food maker right now, 2026 is looking to be quite a rough year from a budget standpoint,” he said.

But Miller said the picture is not nearly as dire for some other kinds of food packaging.

“On the plastic side, we haven’t seen really any price changes that are worth noting,” he said.

Plastic is made from oil, the price of which has been low of late. Plus, plastic — along with glass and cardboard — is largely made in the U.S., so tariffs are less of an issue for now. But Ryan Fox, a corrugated packaging market analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, said they could be in the longer term when those packaging facilities need an upgrade.

“A lot of the equipment that is used to make any kind of packaging is not always made in the U.S.,” Fox said. “So when you need replacement parts, when you need service, those tariffs affect the supply chain and affect pricing for those parts.”

Reynolds said package makers have reduced the amount of packaging they use to keep costs down.

“We’ve all had the experience of having a sip out our Aquafina or single-use plastic water bottle, and it’s basically almost paper,” he said. “It’s so thin.”

Doing so does cut costs, but Reynolds said many food makers have already cut down.

“If we take any more out, they won’t last as long on the shelves or they’ll burst in transit,” he said.

That would not be great for food prices.