A flour sack or flour bag is a bag or sack for

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many c ...

. Large bulk bags as well as smaller consumer sizes are available.

Description

A flour sack or flour bag is a bag or sack for

. Sacks range in size and material.

Package types

Bulk packaging

Flour is often shipped from the miller to bakeries, institutions, and other bulk uses. Sizes range from 10 kg to 100 kg. One traditional construction was cheap

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor p ...

bags. These printed cotton bags were sometimes viewed as

collectable A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...

s; other times the flour sack fabric was repurposed into a variety of household items. Current practices are to use multi-wall paper sacks. Some include a layer of

plastic film Plastic film is a thin continuous polymeric material. Thicker plastic material is often called a "sheet". These thin plastic membranes are used to separate areas or volumes, to hold items, to act as barriers, or as printable surfaces. Plas ...

for barrier properties and insect control. Woven polypropylene bags are also used for high strength; at least one variety (

Purdue Improved Crop Storage bags Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags (formerly Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage bags) provide a simple, low-cost method of reducing post-harvest cowpea (''Vigna unguiculata'') losses due to bruchid infestations in west and central Africa. Bags ha ...

) also includes inner plastic bags.

Consumer packaging

Consumer packages are often bags or sacks constructed of paper.

Plastic film Plastic film is a thin continuous polymeric material. Thicker plastic material is often called a "sheet". These thin plastic membranes are used to separate areas or volumes, to hold items, to act as barriers, or as printable surfaces. Plas ...

s are also used, sometimes with reclosable features.

Stand-up pouch Stand-up pouch is a type of flexible packaging which is able to stand erect on its bottom for display, storage, and use. It is a type of plastic bag but sometimes also has plastic bottle characteristics. Doypacks are commonly used for powde ...

es of flour have recently been introduced.

Considerations

A wide variety of

wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ''brea ...

s are available. Flour can also be made from other grains, roots, nuts, etc. Packaging engineers and

food scientist Food science is the basic science and applied science of food; its scope starts at overlap with agricultural science and nutritional science and leads through the scientific aspects of food safety and food processing, informing the developm ...

s need to understand the properties of the particular flour, intended handling and logistics systems, and desired

shelf life Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a ...

. Package forms and materials can be matched to these needs.

Insects

Insects can be a probem. When available, a suitable insecticide can be used; care must be used to ensure product safety. Hermetic plastic bags also help. When insect infestation is noted, one method of stopping further growth is to freeze the sacks of flour for several days.

Cultural impact

* Flour sack fabric has been used as a cheap source of fabrics for consumers to create their own textiles. * Printed cotton bags were sometimes viewed as

s. * Various place names were named after flour sacks, since they were so ubiquitous in so many cultures. Blatobulgium in Scotland, and Pieniężno in Poland, for example, are possibly named after words for ''flour sack'' in different languages. The all-white tower in the old city of

Ravensburg Ravensburg ( Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an im ...

in Germany is called ''Mehlsack''? * Reuel Colt Gridley famously carried a 50-pound bag of flour on his shoulder after losing a political bet in

Austin, Nevada Austin is an unincorporated small town in, and former county seat of, Lander County, Nevada, United States. In 2020, the census-designated place of Austin had a population of 167. It is located on the western slopes of the Toiyabe Range at an ...

. The sack of flour was later auctioned off, then re-donated, then re-auctioned again and again to raise money for the

United States Sanitary Commission The United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was a private Aid agency, relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army (Federal / Northern / Union Army) during the Ameri ...

during the American Civil War. Auctioning this single flour sack eventually raised more than $250,000.Lea, Ralph & Kennedy, Christi (1 October 2005)
Reuel Gridley and a sack of flour
''

Lodi News-Sentinel The ''Lodi News-Sentinel'' is a daily newspaper based in Lodi, California, United States, and serving northern San Joaquin and southern Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorp ...

References

{{Packaging Bags Flour