FUTURE PROSPECTS OF FOOD PACKAGING

Mini project report

Submitted by

R.MOHAMMED HARISH (URK17FP096)

in partial fulfilment for the award of the degree

of

BACHELOR OF TECHN OLOGY

IN

FOOD PROCESSING AND ENGINEERING

Under the supervision of

Dr. M.M. PRAGALYAA SHREE

DEPARTMENT OF FOOD PROCESSING AND TECHNOLOGY

KARUNYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCES

(Deemed-to-be-University)

KARUNYA NAGAR, COIMBATORE - 641 114. INDIA

NOVEMBER 2020
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 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report entitled “FUTURE PROSPECTS OF

FOOD PACKAGING” is the bonafide record of mini-project work done during
the academic year 2020-21 by R. MOHAMMED HARISH (URK17FP096) in
partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Degree of Bachelor of
Technology (Food Processing and Engineering) of Karunya Institute of
Technology & Sciences.

SIGNATURE SIGNATURE
Dr. M. M. Pragalyaa Shree Dr. K. Thangavel
Assistant Professor Head of the Department
Department of food technology Department of food technology

Submitted for the Mini Project Viva Voce held on 01.12.2020

Internal Examiner External Examiner

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 ABSTRACT

In the recent years, research on food packaging is gaining momentum, the main reason
for this is change of consumer preferences towards minimally processed, fresh, tasty
and convenient foods. Also due to the rise in concern towards the environment has also
led to the development of various new packaging solutions that has zero impact on the
environment. Emerging concepts of active and intelligent packaging technologies
provide numerous innovative solutions for prolonging shelf-life and improving the
quality and safety of food products. There are also new approaches to improving the
passive characteristics of food packaging, such as mechanical strength, barrier
performance, and thermal stability. The development of sustainable or green packaging
has the potential to reduce the environmental impacts of food packaging through the
use of edible or biodegradable materials, plant extracts, and nanomaterial’s. Active,
intelligent, and green packaging technologies can work synergistically to yield a
multipurpose food-packaging system with no negative interactions between
components, and this aim can be seen as the ultimate future goal for food packaging
technology. This paper reviews the principles of food packaging and recent
developments in different types of food packaging technologies. As food packaging
technologies continue to evolve this paper would be useful for researchers,
manufacturers, and academicians who are interested and like to innovate in this field.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page No.

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVATIONS viii

1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. BRIEF HISTORY OF FOOD PACKAGING 1

3. EMERGING FOOD PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES 3

3.1 Intelligent or Smart packaging (IOSP) 3

3.1.1 Radio Frequency Identification Tags (RFID) 4

3.1.2 Gas Indicators 6

3.1.3 Time-temperature Indicators (TTIs) 6

3.2 Active Packaging (AP) 7

3.2.1 Moisture Absorbers 7

3.2.2 Carbon dioxide Absorbers 8

3.2.3 Carbon dioxide emitting packaging 9

3.2.4 Antioxidant Packaging 9

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 3.2.5 Antimicrobial Packaging 10

3.3 Sustainable or Green Packaging (SOGP) 10

3.4 Nano technologies in Food Packaging 11

3.4.1 Nano composites 11

3.4.2 Other Nano technologies 12

4. CONCLUSION 13

5. REFERENCES 14

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 LIST OF TABLES

S.No Table No Title Page No

Commercially
available moisture
1 Table 1 8
absorber packaging
materials

Commercially
available CO2
2 Table 2 8
absorber packaging
materials

Commercially
available CO2
3 Table 3 9
emitting packaging
materials

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 LIST OF FIGURES

S.No Figure No Title Page No

Number of
publications on IOSP, 3
1 Figure 1
AP, and SOGP in the
past 20 years.

Classification of
2 Figure 2 4
IOSP system.

Application of RFID
3 Figure 3 technology in Supply 5
chain management.

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 LIST OF SYMBOLS AND OBSERVATIONS

LDPE Low-density polyethylene

HDPE high-density polyethylene

VLDPE very low-density polyethylene

lLDPE linear low-density polyethylene

IOSP Intelligent or Smart packaging

AP Active packaging

SOGP Sustainable or Green packaging

RFID Radio Frequency Identification

Hz Hertz

TTIs Time-temperature Indicators

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1. Introduction
Over the last decades, innovation has become a significant way to overcome human problems.
Innovations have become a must in every industry, especially in the food industry with consumer
preference for safe and high-quality food is on the rise. Each sector of the food industry is updating
itself to meet the consumer demand for fresh, nutritious, minimally processed, and safe food. The
one sector of the food industry which has a tremendous growth in terms of innovation in recent
years is the packaging sector. The packaging is one of the important components of processed
foods as it maintains the quality of food products throughout storage, transportation, and
consumption. Apart from maintaining the quality and freshness of food products it also serves as
a tool of communication between the consumer and producer. Also, proper packaging is an
efficient marketing tool to sell the product and an easy way to reach the desired customers.
Food packaging has a variety of functions to serve but the most important one is food safety. The
important factors that affect the quality of foods are temperature, oxygen concentration, carbon
dioxide concentration, relative humidity, and moisture content. So there is a need to monitor the
real-time value of these attributes to maintain the safety and quality of the food product. Also,
products such as meat, poultry, fruits, and vegetables are highly perishable so packaging must be
designed in a way it maintains the initial quality of food product for a longer period and thus
increasing the life span of the product. The presence of spoilage microorganisms is also a major
reason for the quality deterioration of food products and ultimately leads to food loss. So packaging
technology should be developed in such a way that it not only maintains food quality but also
minimize food loss.
Changes in consumer preference have led to major developments in the food packaging sector.
Demand for convenience foods led to the development of easy to open and reseal packages, lack
of cooking skill led to the development of self-heating packages, the concern of environment led
to biodegradable packages, and measure of food quality attributes resulted in intelligent packaging.
In recent years food packaging has developed well beyond its primary function thanks to the
change in consumer preferences. This paper gives an overview of the latest innovations in food
packaging. The emerging food packaging technologies as described in recently published works
have been reviewed and summarised. As food packaging technologies continue to evolve this
paper would be useful for researchers, manufacturers, and academicians who are interested and
like to innovate in this field.

2. Brief history of food packaging

In the beginning, food was consumed at the same place it was produced. Families and villages are
sufficient with what they produced. But as time passed the need for preserving and transferring
food between places became compulsory which ultimately led to the development of packaging
and preservation techniques.
One of the oldest packaging methods was using paper which can be related to today's flexible
packaging technique. In the 1st and 2nd century B.C Mulberry barks were used to wrap food, as

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papermaking techniques improved during the next 1500 years they got transported to the Middle
east. Then gradually paper making technique reached Europe, England, and America in the
following centuries. The first commercial cardboard box was produced in 1817 in England and
later corrugated boxes were invented in the 1850s. In the 20th century paper and paperboard
packaging have increased in popularity.
Glass is another widely used packaging material. Glass packaging began in Egypt in 1500 B.C.
Glass was made by mixing limestone, sand, soda, and silica which are available in abundance. Pots
and mugs were made out of molten glass around 1200 B.C. In 300 B.C Phoenicians, invented the
blowpipe which speeded up the production of glass materials. In the next 1000 years, the glass
production technique has improved a lot. As techniques improved the price of glass containers
continued to decrease. One notable and most important development during the 18 th and 19th
centuries was the automatic rotary bottle-making machine, which was patented in the year 1899.
As other packaging materials such as metals and plastics are gaining popularity in the 1970s, glass
was restricted to pack high-value products. But still today glass packaging has a wide range of
applications in the food industry in terms of rigid packaging.
Besides glass, metals are widely used as rigid packaging material. In ancient times boxes, were
made out of gold and silver were available, as well as containers made out of metals, alloys, and
coatings were developed gradually. At the beginning of the 14th century, iron cans coated with tin
were used for food packaging, later the iron was replaced with steel, which improved the quality
and output of the product. But in the earlier days, people are afraid to store food in metal cans as
they considered it poisonous. But thanks to Nicholas Appert, who invented a safe method to seal
foods in metal containers, which is popularly known today as the canning process. In 1810 Peter
Durant an English man earned the patent right for inventing a sealed cylindrical can. The first
printed metal box was made in 1866 in the USA. Until 1866 only hammers and screws were used
to open metal packages, later tearable lids were made. In 1875 can opener was invented and in
1950 aluminum foil can was invented. Metal packaging traveled through a lot of stages and
currently, it is one of the convenient packaging materials.
Papers, metals, glasses are available for more than 1000 years but a packaging material that was
discovered just a few centuries back is plastic. Many materials that are developed for world war 2
applications are later converted into food packaging materials. One such material is plastic, which
has undergone a lot of improvements in terms of its material properties. The first-ever widely used
plastic material for food packaging is polyethylene. Various types of polyethylene are available
which include low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), very low-
density polyethylene (VLDPE), and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). In 1964 Hercules
developed a new process called the co-extrusion which improved the overall properties of plastic
film. In this process, two or more materials are pressed through the same die to produce a single
plastic material. Some examples of co-extruded plastic films are polypropylene, polyester, and
ethylene vinyl alcohol. These plastic films provide a better gas barrier and moisture barrier. For
the past 50-60 years, plastics have been widely used as a packaging material and new technologies
have improved the usage of plastics.

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3. Emerging food packaging technologies
In the past 20 years, a lot of factors such as consumer demand, industrial trends, consumer lifestyle,
and environmental concern have led to the development of novel and innovative packaging
techniques that extends shelf life, improves food quality, and reduce environmental burden. The
emerging food packaging technologies in recent years include – Intelligent or Smart packaging
(IOSP), Active packaging (AP), and Sustainable or Green packaging (SOGP). The total number
of publications on food packaging technologies have increased in recent years. Figure 1 shows the
comparative graph of the total number of publications on IOSP, AP, and SOGP in recent years.
It's also evident from the figure that the number of publications published on AP is comparatively
higher than IOSP. Active packaging provides better protection, less environmental impact, and
very less food waste and loss. The following section gives a detailed review of each type of food
packaging.

Figure 1 – Number of publications on IOSP, AP, and SOGP in the past 20 years.

3.1 Intelligent or Smart packaging (IOSP)

Intelligent packaging, also known as smart packaging ensures food quality and safety by
monitoring the real-time food attributes by using indicators or sensors. Traditional packaging
remains intact but intelligent packaging is designed in such a way that it interacts with food content
and/or with the environment. It can be used to monitor, record, trace and convey information about
the quality, safety, and shelf life of the food product. IOSP system contains devices such as tags

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or labels which are used to acquire information about food safety and quality, store that information
and convey it to manufacturers, retailers, or consumers. IOSP devices can be classified into two
type’s direct and indirect indicators. Indirect indicators do not provide direct information to judge
the quality of the food but can be used to evaluate the effect of the environment on food shelf life
and quality. Whereas direct indicators can readily give information such as edibility, freshness,
quality, and shelf life of the food product to the consumers. The following section briefly explains
the various types of IOSP systems that are used in the food packaging industries.

Figure 2 – Classification of IOSP system.

3.1.1 Radio Frequency Identification Tags (RFID)

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are used to transmit real-time accurate information of
the food product to the user’s information system. RFID tags help in tracing the product, saving
labor costs, inventory management, and also in the protection of safety and quality of the product.
RFID tags are based on wireless communication that can be used to detect parameters such as
temperature, relative humidity, and other relative information of the product as it moves through

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the supply chain thus increases the food safety and quality of the product. RFID tags can be used
as a replacement for barcodes but due to their high cost, their usage is limited.

Figure 3 – Application of RFID technology in Supply chain management.

RFID tags are classified as active, passive, and semi-passive tags. Active tags have an embedded
battery to power the tag and to transmit the signal to the reader. They have a wide reading range
of more than 50 m, but their usage is limited as they are expensive. Passive tags don’t contain an
embedded battery and it is powered by electromagnetic induction. These tags have a shorter
reading distance, but they have a long lifetime, small, light, and low cost keep them as
manufacture’s first choice. Semi-passive tags have an embedded battery but it can be only used to
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power the tag, it still needs electromagnetic induction to transmit the signal to the reader. These
tags remain dormant for most of the time so they have a longer life span compared to the other two
RFID tags. The frequency of RFID tags ranges from very low frequencies of 125 kHz to ultra-high
frequencies of 850 – 900 MHz and also microwave frequencies in the range of 2.45 GHz. RFID
tags are mostly used in meat products, as they are ideal for high water content products. Various
factors such as the life span of the RFID tags, high cost, power source to operate the tags and
working range of the tags can be suitable areas for researchers to work in the future.

3.1.2 Gas Indicators

Shelf life, safety, and quality of packed food products directly depend upon the gas composition
within the food package. The gas composition might change due to various reasons such as
respiration, transpiration, and microbial spoilage. Gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen are used
in modified atmosphere packages to maintain the shelf life and quality attributes of the food
products. An increase or decrease in the concentration of these gases can lead to a deterioration of
food products. Therefore leakage or concentration of the gases inside the package should be
monitored. To monitor these changes gas indicators or sensors are used, these indicators play an
important role in monitoring the concentration of gases inside the packages and helps in
maintaining the quality and safety of food products. One of the common and widely used gas
sensors are oxygen indicators, as oxygen harms food quality and safety through oxidative
rancidity. Another widely used sensors are carbon dioxide indicators, these sensors are widely
used in MAP as CO2 helps in reducing microbial growth inside packages. These sensors are also
used in measuring the degree of fermentation in kimichi products during distribution and storage.
RFID tags have a high demand and scope in the future as they can monitor real-time changes in
the gas composition during the entire supply chain. But one of the challenging factors that have to
be addressed is the integration of gas indicators inside RFID tags so that changes in gas
composition can be read automatically and this will be a suitable field for researchers to work in
the future.

3.1.3 Time-temperature Indicators (TTIs)

The shelf life of food product depends on the temperature at which it is maintained during
transportation, handling, storage, and consumption. It is an important factor as a slight change in
temperature can deteriorate and spoil the foods, especially the perishable foods. FDA has defined
a wide range of food items as TCS foods (time and temperature control for safety) which includes
raw, natural, processed, and cooked foods. So monitoring the temperature of food products is
important as it determines the quality and shelf life of the food product. To solve this issue TTIs
are used to monitor the time and temperature-dependent changes in the food product. TTIs are
widely used as they are cost-effective and compatible. TTIs works based on responses in form of
chemical, enzymatic, or biological changes that take place when the product is exposed to higher
temperatures. Electronic-based TTIs use a thermal indicator to detect the change and a sensor

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converts the thermal signal into an electrical signal and finally, electrical signals are converted into
visual output. TTIs are classified into three types – 1) critical temperature indicators which show
whether a product is exposed above or below a reference temperature, 2) critical time-temperature
indicators which indicate both time and temperature changes that take place in the food product,
3) full history indicators gives a continuous data of temperature variation with time throughout the
products supply chain. TTIs are generally based on changes that happen due to pH rise or drop in
the food product as a result of time-temperature changes. But still, some problems have to be
addressed like cost, safety issues (migrant of chemical components), reliability, and legislative
issues. So the future research on TTIs can be carried out in producing economical, nontoxic, and
irreversible color change indicators.

3.2 Active Packaging (AP)

The major reason for the loss of food safety and quality are excess water content, oxidation, and
microbial growth during storage, transportation, and distribution of the food product. Food
industries are forced to create new technologies to maintain the organoleptic properties of the food,
to maintain food safety, and also to reduce food wastage. As a result, active packaging technology
has been developed to satisfy the demand of consumers. In AP active substances that are
responsible for the proper functioning of the packages are incorporated into the food product either
directly or indirectly as per the requirement. These active materials that are incorporated into the
food products must be approved by the concerned food regulatory body before it is used in the
packaging material. Also, the use of active materials should be mentioned in the food label and it
should not mislead the consumers. Active packaging can be classified into two types: Active
scavenging packaging which includes moisture absorbers, carbon dioxide absorbers, and
antioxidant packaging, and Active releasing packaging which includes carbon dioxide emitting
packaging and antimicrobial packaging. The following section briefly explains the various types
of active packaging systems and their commercial applications in detail.

3.2.1 Moisture absorbers

Excess water content in food is one of the important reasons for food spoilage and loss. Moisture
absorbers are a type of active scavenging packaging materials that are used to absorb excess
moisture from the food products. Moisture absorbing substances include silica gel, calcium oxide,
molecular sieves, and natural clays. Some of the commercially used moisture absorbers are listed
in Table 1. The most commonly used moisture absorbers in fresh meat products are tray-formated
drip absorbing pads, which consist of absorbent polymer which is placed between two layers of
the nonwoven or microporous material. Moisture absorbers are suitable for food products such as
meat, fish, poultry, and fresh produces which has high moisture content and readily prone to
microbial contamination. Since these moisture absorbers are non-edible components they are
incorporated into packaging material as pads or used as trays for meat and poultry packaging.

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 Year Commercial name Forms
2011 2-in-1TM Sachet
2012 Fresh-R-Pax Absorbent tray
2013 TenderPac Dual-compartment system
2015 PichitTM Sachet
2016 Pad-Loc Fresh Absorbent pads

Table 1 - Commercially available moisture absorber packaging materials

3.2.2 Carbon dioxide absorbers

CO2 gas is used as flushing gas in MAP systems to maintain the freshness of products such as
meat, fish, and poultry. Also, CO2 gas is used to inhibit bacterial and fungi growth by exhibiting
antimicrobial properties and also by relatively reducing the oxygen levels. But this does not apply
to all food products, some food products such as fermented foods release CO2 gas during storage
and distribution which may increase the level of CO2 gas in the package which may lead to
undesirable changes in the food product, such as affecting the flavor, texture and nutritional quality
of the product. Food products such as potato, onions, cucumber, peach, apple, apricot, and carrot
are prone to CO2 injury, this leads to off-flavor development, discoloration, and tissue breakdown.
Physical and chemical absorbers are the two major methods that are used for the absorption of
CO2 gas in food products. Some of the commercially used carbon dioxide absorbers are listed in
Table 2. These absorbers are incorporated in a sachet and placed in a food package or applied as a
coating or sheet. Further studies can be carried out in developing CO2 absorber that has dynamic
interaction with the food, packaging material and as well as with environment so that they can be
used to preserve food with high quality and safety.

Year Commercial name Forms

2003 ATCO CO-450 Sachets
2008 LitholymeTM Granules
2017 Ageless E Sachets
Unknown Year Freshloc Sachets
Unknown Year EMCO Sachets
Unknown Year Zeolite 4A Beads

Table 2 - Commercially available CO2 absorber packaging materials

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3.2.3 Carbon dioxide emitting packaging
As we have seen earlier CO2 gas has antimicrobial effects on microorganisms at a concentration
of 10 % - 80 % they can be incorporated into the food products to improve the shelf life and quality
of the food products. For example, a high concentration of CO2 gas is used in MAP systems to
protect perishable food products such as meat and poultry from microbial spoilage. But the ability
of CO2 gas to penetrate through plastic materials is 3 to 5 times higher than that of oxygen so there
is a high chance of CO2 gas getting penetrated the external environment. So the usage of CO2
emitters is beneficial as they can maintain the desired level of CO2 concentration inside the food
package. Some of the commercially used carbon dioxide emitters are mention in Table 3. Some of
these commercially used emitters have dual functions as they are a combination of both CO2
emitters and O2 scavengers. Producing a film with a combination of both CO2 emitter and O2
scavenger is still under development, but it is a top priority of most of the manufactures as they
have a synergistic antimicrobial effect over the microorganism.

Year Commercial name Forms

2012 FreshPax Sachets
2015 UltraZap Antimicrobial pad
2017 Ageless Sachets
Unknown Year Microspheres Sachets
Unknown Year Superfresh Box system with CO2 emitter
Unknown Year Vitalon Sachets
Unknown Year Standa Gel in sachets

Table 3 - Commercially available CO2 emitting packaging materials

3.2.4 Antioxidant Packaging

A high level of oxygen in food packages can lead to microbial growth, oxidation of fats, and loss
of vitamins such as A, C, and E which leads to rancidity, change in color, flavor, texture, and
nutritional quality of the food product. Thus the food becomes unacceptable for human
consumption, so the removal of O2 from the food package is important to improve the quality and
safety of the food product. Antioxidants can be directly added to the food material by using any
one of the following methods such as mixing, spraying, or immersion and this might change the
quality parameters of food such as the color and taste. To avoid these active antioxidants are
incorporated inside the polymer. Synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA),
butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), tertiary butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ), propyl gallate (PG), and
organophosphate and thioester compounds are widely used to provide oxidative stability. However
to avoid risk and to meet consumer demands natural antioxidants such as plant extracts, tocopherol,

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or essential oils are used. Also incorporating antioxidants into packaging films might affect the
physical and mechanical properties of the material, so these effects should be evaluated before the
addition of antioxidants. Another way to attain efficient antioxidant property without affecting the
natural properties of the packaging material is to use antioxidant nanoparticles, this comparatively
reduces the number of active substances used thus doesn’t affect the physical properties of
packaging material. With rising environmental concerns incorporation of antioxidants into
biodegradable packages can be a new method of preventing food oxidation.

3.2.5 Antimicrobial Packaging

One of the main reasons for the spoilage of food products is due to the growth of microorganism,
which leads to the risk of foodborne illness. All the above-mentioned methods such as CO2
emitters, CO2, moisture absorbers, and antioxidant packaging have antimicrobial effects when
they are incorporated into the food products. In the case of antimicrobial packaging, it slows the
growth of microorganisms by extending the length of the lag period. There are two types of
antimicrobial packaging one in direct contact with food surface and the other is without making
direct contact. In the first case, antimicrobial agents are either evaporated or migrated into the food
product. This type of packaging is suitable for vacuum-packed foods or food products that are
covered using a film. The second case includes technologies such as MAP. Antimicrobial agents
such as ethanol, carbon dioxide, silver ions essential oils, and spices have a very limited
commercial availability. But silver-based antimicrobial materials are widely used in countries
such as the US and Japan. The use of essential oils can cause negative sensory effects, so to avoid
this essential oils can be used in combination with other antimicrobial agents or in combination
with other preservative techniques to get the desired microbial inactivation. Today lot of
developments are taking place in developing antimicrobial packages but still, some factors such as
real-time application, technical difficulties, regulatory issues, and commercialization of
antimicrobial packaging have to be addressed in the future.

3.3 Sustainable or Green packaging (SOGP)

The rise in environmental concern and regulations have led to the development of new innovative
technologies to meet the consumer demand for high quality and safe food. The main goal of
researchers is to develop a packaging material that has zero impact on the environment at every
stage of its usage starting from the collection of raw material until its disposal as waste. First at
the collection of raw materials using recycled and renewable resources reduce CO2 emission. Then
during the production of the packaging material production of the lighter and thinner package uses
relatively less energy. Last reuse or recycling of the packaging can reduce the amount of solid
waste. The use of biodegradable polymers has considerably increased in recent years which
includes polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), polylactic acid (PLA), zein, soy protein isolate, starches,
cellulose, gluten, whey protein isolate, and chitosan. But bioplastics come with a lot of restrictions
such as high cost, brittleness, high water vapor, high oxygen permeability, poor impact strength,
and poor processability. So to improve these properties of bioplastics especially to improve the

10
barrier properties different techniques were used. For example coating the material using biobased
films, incorporating nanoparticles, and crosslinking to change the physical or chemical properties.
It has been reported that a thin and uniform coating of Al2 O3 has significantly improved the oxygen
and water barrier capacity of the material. Another important aspect of SOGP is the reduction in
packaging, which means to avoid excess packaging by reducing the number of packaging materials
used. Next important thing is to reduce the thickness and weight of the packaging material without
compromising the shelf life of the product. This can improve sustainability as well as reduce the
cost of production. The heavyweight of food packages can increase the cost of processing,
transport, and distribution of the product and it can result in severe environmental issues. Various
methods can be used to reduce the weight of the packaging material such as reducing the packaging
thickness, changing the shape of the packaging material, and also using alternative materials. But
the important factor to be concerned about is the CO2 content which is an important parameter in
determining the shelf life and taste of the product. So care should be taken to reduce the package
weight without a change in CO2 concentration. Other than these factors a close relation between
producer and packaging scientist should be made to synergistically address food packaging
sustainability.

3.4 Nanotechnologies in food packaging

One of the emerging food packaging technology that has the potential to transform the future of
the food industry is nanotechnology. Nanoscale innovations can introduce a lot of new inventions
in the food packaging sector that can provide barriers, detect microorganisms, improve food safety,
and quality. The already available application of nanotechnology in the food packaging industry
is the coating of aluminum nanolayer on the interior of snack food packages. Nanomaterials are
abundant in nature and various methods are used to change these materials into effective packaging
material. These methods include extraction, evaporation, crystallization, self-assembly, microbial
synthesis, and biomass reactions. One of the techniques that are at the forefront is nanocomposites.

3.4.1 Nanocomposites
Nanocomposites are predicted to make a significant portion of the packaging industry in the future.
The major target component of nanocomposite is beverage packaging. In the 1980s Toyota was
the first company to commercialize nanocomposites. Nanocomposites are now used in tanks,
bumpers, interiors, and exterior panels. Research on using nanocomposite as efficient packaging
material began in the 1990s. For research purposes, montmorillonite clay was used as a nano
component. There are 3 common methods used to process nanocomposites: solution method, in
situ or interlamellar polymerization technique, and melt processing. The solution method can be
used to form both intercalated and exfoliated nanocomposite materials. In the solution method, the
nanocomposite clay is first swollen in a solvent. Next, it is added to a polymer solution, and
polymer molecules are allowed to extend between the layers of filler. The solvent is then allowed
to evaporate. The in situ or interlamellar method swells the fillers by absorption of a liquid
monomer. After the monomer has penetrated in between the layers of silicates, polymerization is

11
initiated by heat, radiation, or incorporation of an initiator. The melt method is the most commonly
used method due to the lack of solvents. In melt processing, the nanocomposite filler is
incorporated into a molten polymer and then formed into the final material. A considerable amount
of research is also occurring in the area of biodegradable nanocomposite food packages. By
pumping carbohydrates and clay fillers through high shear cells, films can be produced with
exfoliated clay layers. These films act as very effective moisture barriers by increasing the
tortuosity of the path water must take to penetrate the films. Significant increases in film strength
are also frequently achieved in these types of materials. Starch and chitosan are two of the most
studied biodegradable matrices. In the future, these types of biodegradable nanocomposite food
packages may be found in the marketplace.

3.4.2 Other Nanotechnologies

Carbon nanotubes are cylinders with nanoscale diameters that can be used in food packaging to
improve their mechanical properties. Also, it was recently discovered that they may also exert
powerful antimicrobial effects. Escherichia coli died immediately upon direct contact with
aggregates of carbon nanotubes. Presumably, the long, thin nanotubes punctured the E. coli cells,
causing cellular damage. Single-walled carbon nanotubes may eventually serve as building blocks
for antimicrobial materials. Nano-wheels were also recently developed to improve food packaging.
Inorganic alumina platelets have been self-assembled into wagon-wheel shaped structures that are
incorporated into plastics to improve their barrier and mechanical properties. This was the first
time large wheel-shaped molecules had been formed. DNA biochips are already under
development to detect pathogens. Researchers at the Univ. of Pennsylvania and Monell Chemical
Sciences Center have used nano-sized carbon tubes coated with strands of DNA to create
nanosensors with the ability to detect odors and tastes. A single strand of DNA serves as the sensor
and a carbon nanotube functions as the transmitter. Using similar technologies, electronic tongue
nanosensors are being developed to detect substances in parts per trillion, which could be used to
trigger color changes in food packages to alert consumers when food is spoiled. A unique aspect
of these biochips is that the DNA is self-assembled onto the chips and repairs itself if damaged.
Another color-changing film that could find its way into food packages is polymer opal films.
Polymer opal films belong to a class of materials known as photonic crystals. The crystals are built
of tiny repeating units of carbon nanoparticles wedged between spheres, leading to intense colors
that mimic the colors associated with the photonic crystals found on butterfly wings and peacock
feathers. Photonic crystals could be used to produce unique food packaging materials that change
color.

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4. Conclusion
Food packaging technologies are improving continuously in response to lifestyle changes and the
ever-increasing demand for high-quality and safe foods. Food packaging helps extend shelf-life
and maintain the sensory properties, quality, and safety of packaged food, and researchers studying
packaging seek to promote environmental sustainability. However, additional effort should be
focused on overcoming the technical constraints and high costs associated with these technologies,
which have been the main factors preventing wider implementation and the development of
additional commercial applications for new types of packaging materials in the food packaging
industry. However, advances in nanotechnology offer great potential for overcoming existing
challenges associated with packaging materials and cost reduction. Finally, to increase the safety
and effectiveness of new food packaging technologies and ensure the sustainable growth of
modern societies, continuous research and development should be performed based on
collaboration between government regulatory agencies, industries, consumers, and
multidisciplinary experts.

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