Oct 31 2014
The BIOMAT group at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has developed an active, biodegradable container for packaging of solid and liquid oily products. This container is made from agro-industrial by-products. It is transparent and can prevent gases like oxygen and ultraviolet light from entering the container. This container can be printed upon and can also be thermally sealed.
Biodegradable container for cheese
Generally, containers are passive packaging systems. However, the newly developed container plays an active role. It can help maintain and also improve the quality of food. It controls the permeation phenomena by incorporating beneficial substances or retaining harmful substances or by using barrier materials.
Free radicals initiate oxidation reactions leading to deterioration of food. It is not easy to control these processes as they occur rapidly. In order to prevent or slow down the oxidation reactions, barrier materials can be used to prevent oxygen from entering from the outside. Antioxidants could be added in the container or inside the container, which would act as adding beneficial substances. Demand for products without synthetic chemical compounds has led to the development of active containers having natural additives for food packaging.
Plastic is durable, versatile and is hence widely used for food packaging applications. Packaging must serve multiple purposes – contain the product, protect it, preserve it, provide information about the product and also enable easy distribution. Traditional containers, such as those made from plastic, are durable but are harmful to the environment. Hence researchers are trying to develop sustainable materials using materials derived from renewable sources, which would later biodegrade after use. While such materials are not being widely used, its demand is expected to increase and the global production of bioplastics is expected to grow to 6.2 million tonnes by 2017 from 1.6 million tonnes in 2013.
With this in mind, the BIOMAT group has developed the innovative active container manufactured using natural antioxidant agents for packaging of cheese products. This packaging would provide a longer shelf-life for these products.
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