Design and Evaluation of Agro-Based Food Packaging Films

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2020

Abstract

There is current interest in using agro-based materials to produce food packaging that can increase the shelf lives of food items, minimize food spoilage, and reduce plastic waste. We have been conducting research in this area and have adopted several approaches in designing new packaging films: 1) Polymer blending in order to optimize the properties of the resulting films, with the advantage that no chemical synthesis is needed and the regulatory hurdle in product development is lower. 2) Incorporation of essential oils as antimicrobial component in films. 3) Modification of film surfaces to render them less hydrophilic. 4) Design of composites involving biobased materials and synthetic polymers to form semi-synthetic films. 5) Incorporation of nanomaterials to strengthen the film. Because the agro-based materials are structurally diverse, combinations and variations are possible, and these approaches offer many opportunities for customization and optimization. Examples of these approaches from the authors' work will be shown as illustrations in this review.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

ACS Symposium Series

First Page

193

Last Page

204

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