Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs),
which are declared as generally
recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is discussed
in this review to reveal their beneficial characteristics when incorporated
into packaging matrixes for food packaging and preservation applications.
Some of the major challenges in conventional packaging include microbial
contamination, oxidation, moisture, gas, and UV transmission into
the food, and lack of mechanical strength. These factors lead to poor
shelf life, affect food quality, and cause food wastage. Advancement
in packaging has shifted the focus toward nanotechnology. Nanotechnology
is oriented toward the fabrication and application of materials with
nanosized dimensions. Among various nanomaterials, current research
has focused on ZnO NPs due to their properties and future applications.
Incorporation of ZnO NPs into biopolymer packaging materials considerably
enhanced the antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens and
prolonged the shelf life of foodstuffs by a Trojan-horse strategy
and reactive oxygen mechanism. Besides antimicrobial activity, ZnO
NPs allow improvement of the antioxidant activity of the packaging
materials by limiting the presence of oxygen in the headspace. Comprehensive
ZnO nanocomposite (NC) biopolymer (BP) packaging features and their
significance for food packaging applications are presented in this
review. Furthermore, it discusses the effect of ZnO NPs on mechanical
strength and barrier properties such as water vapor permeability,
oxygen transmission rate, and UV transmission across the packaging
material.