Nanotechnology: An Untapped Resource for Food Packaging

Abstract

Food commodities are packaged and hygienically transported to protect and preserve them from any un-acceptable alteration in quality, before reaching the end-consumer. Food packaging continues to evolve along-with the innovations in material science and technology, as well as in light of consumer's demand. Presently, the modern consumers of competitive economies demands for food with natural quality, assured safety, minimal processing, extended shelf-life and ready-to-eat concept. Innovative packaging systems, not only ascertains transit preservation and effective distribution, but also facilitates communication at the consumer levels. The technological advances in the domain of food packaging in twenty-first century are mainly chaired by nanotechnology, the science of nano-materials. Nanotechnology manipulates and creates nanometer scale materials, of commercial and scientific relevance. Introduction of nanotechnology in food packaging sector has significantly addressed the food quality, safety and stability concerns. Besides, nanotechnology based packaging intimate's consumers about the real time quality of food product. Additionally, nanotechnology has been explored for controlled release of preservatives/antimicrobials, extending the product shelf life within the package. The promising reports for nanotechnology interventions in food packaging have established this as an independent priority research area. Nanoparticles based food packages offer improved barrier and mechanical properties, along with food preservation and have gained welcoming response from market and end users. In contrary, recent advances and up-liftment in this area have raised various ethical, environmental and safety concerns. Policies and regulation regarding nanoparticles incorporation in food packaging are being reviewed. This review presents the existing knowledge, recent advances, concerns and future applications of nanotechnology in food packaging sector.

Strategies to Extend Bread and GF Bread Shelf-Life: From Sourdough to Antimicrobial Active Packaging and Nanotechnology

“…Clay and silicates have been also used as nanoparticles in the production of intercalated and exfoliated nanocomposites [75]. The former have a multilayered structure with alternating polymer/filler layers lying apart by few nanometers, while in the latter the filler layers are delaminated and randomly dispersed in the polymer matrix [76].…”

Use of Nanomaterials in Food Science

“…Carbon nanotubes have also been developed in packaging to pump out carbon dioxide or absorb undesirable flavors (Sinha et al 2006). It has been known that CNTs also have antibacterial properties, which may be due to their direct penetration through microbial cells (Sharma et al 2017). It has been reported that antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles against E. coli and B. cereus spores is significantly enhanced in combination with titanium dioxide and carbon nanotubes, respectively (Krishna et al 2005).…”

Tailoring Functional Chitosan‐Based Composites for Food Applications

“…One of the main functions of food packaging is to prevent or lower the moisture transfer between food and surrounding environment. Therefore, a proper gas and water vapour permeation can maintain food quality and improve stability and shelf life . Nanoparticles have been used to fill the empty spaces in the film microstructure and thus prevent the migration of molecules.…”