Put it in plastic

SIR – As someone who is proud to have worked in the packaging industry, I am astonished at the unscientific claims by those who seek to persuade us that plastic packaging need be bad.

Modern packaging using plastics has helped reduce food spoilage in the industrialised world to around 2 per cent, in contrast to 30-50 per cent in developing countries.

I wish to have presentable food that can be stored safely. Plastic packaging delivers just that. A V Freer

Leicester

SIR – In December 1970, as a student temporarily employed by Royal Mail, I was called upon to deliver a chicken on my round, with nothing but the address label tied around its neck.

It was at least dead, and I remember hoping that this was indeed the condition in which it entered our national postal system. JD Newman

Hinckley, Leicestershire