Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Design and development of suitable smart packaging
Highlights
New/existing materials will be characterised in terms of migration studies of both intentionally and non-intentionally added substances, small-/micro/nano- plastics, metal nanoparticles, food packaging suitability and growth of mycotoxigenic moulds, even after being subjected to innovative/emerging processing technologies (e.g., cold gas plasma, HPP). Potential antimicrobial properties will also be assessed, particularly for developed functional packaging systems. The safety of new materials used as FCM, from recyclable sources, bioplastics or derived from by-products, will be assessed in collaboration with Spoke 2
Report on safety / stability functionality of new/existing food packaging materials/systems (M30)
Identification of best biodegradable materials for food packaging for different food matrices (M30)
Food loss and waste has become a huge problem and attracted great attention with continuous growth of world population. Around 30% of the global food supply are lost or wasted each year (around) 1.3 billion tons, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and these losses or wastes may occur at any step throughout the food supply chain (FSC) right from farm to fork (FAO, 2011). In the FSC the product deterioration mainly may occur due to two distinct factors: temporal and environmental. The products within FSC are subject to the marginal value of time, and need to travel downstream having long-lead time. Along this, environment elements, including temperature and humidity, increase the risk of product deterioration and therefore influence food quality (van der Vorst et al., Int J Prod Res 2009). The impact of product deterioration within FSCs is twofold; firstly, though the decrease in quality as food products deteriorate, but also the increased risk of contaminated goods impacting food safety.
To face the food loss and waste, and to preserve foods from deterioration, suitable packaging seems a strategy. The aim of this work is the development of smart, sustainable packaging able to release antioxidants and preservatives to the foods and to adsorb volatile organic compounds (VOC). Polyesters, as polyhydroxybutyrate, will be used as thermoplastic material and will be loaded with inorganics capable to load preservatives (antimicrobials and antioxidants) and to simultaneously capture VOC. The release and adsorption kinetics will be characterized together with the mechanical properties, the degradation of the packaging developed and the gas permeability.
Smart packaging with minimal release and minimal adsorption of compounds will be developed. Release of preservatives (antioxidants and antimicrobials) will decrease the food deterioration and increase the food shelf life. The developed packaging could have a variety of applications and could be used in contact with different food components of lipidic or hydrophilic characters.Food loss and waste has become a huge problem and attracted great attention with continuous growth of world population. Around 30% of the global food supply are lost or wasted each year (around) 1.3 billion tons, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and these losses or wastes may occur at any step throughout the food supply chain (FSC) right from farm to fork (FAO, 2011). In the FSC the product deterioration mainly may occur due to two distinct factors: temporal and environmental. The products within FSC are subject to the marginal value of time, and need to travel downstream having long-lead time. Along this, environment elements, including temperature and humidity, increase the risk of product deterioration and therefore influence food quality (van der Vorst et al., Int J Prod Res 2009). The impact of product deterioration within FSCs is twofold; firstly, though the decrease in quality as food products deteriorate, but also the increased risk of contaminated goods impacting food safety.
