Packaging is a complex subject and its role to the food industry and to the consumers includes protection, containment, transportation, preservation, and advertisement to the food industry. Defective packaging has the potential of negating all the food processor has attempted to accomplish by the most meticulous method of manufacturing processes. Nigerians have diverse ready-to-eat foods, diet and drinks varying from one tribe and geographical locations to another, with different packing materials and methods adopted. The aim of this work is to appraise the various properties of the local food packaging material used in Nigeria with particular reference to its suitability to the packaged food. A survey was carried out to ascertain the various type of local packaging materials used in Nigeria; samples of locally prepared and packaged foods were purchased from various sales outlets in Ogbomoso town, southwest Nigeria; the samples were stored at room temperature. Results shows that the common type of materials used to package food in Nigeria includes discarded bottles and jars, old stock of paper prints, leaves, maize-sheath, glass-sided boxes, jute sacks, poly sacks, polyethylene bags among others. The advantages of these materials includes availability and low cost price; while the disadvantage includes easy contamination of packaged food ,easy deterioration of packaging materials, easy spillage of packaged products, poor shelf-life of packaged food among others. It is observed that the role of packaging is not accomplished in the use of these materials; also no standard of regulatory body has been effective in ensuring the safety of ready-to-eat food.