Advances in Protein-Based Biodegradable Films: A Review

Food plays a crucial role in human survival on earth. However, our food quality can also impact our metabolism and daily lifestyle. While various food industries use good packaging material to improve food quality, their non-degradable behaviour causes environmental pollution. Biodegradable films from biodegradable resources such as proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids have been developed to address this issue. This review will discuss recent advances in improving protein-based biodegradable films' physical and chemical parameters. These advances include blending plasticisers, essential oils, chemical treatments, and heat treatments to enhance parameters such as tensile strength, elongation at break, water vapour permeability, opacity, light transmission, and antimicrobial properties. We will focus on three popular proteins: fish myofibrillar protein, whey protein isolate, and soy protein isolate. This review overviews recent advances in protein-based biodegradable films and other opportunities to mitigate polymer-based emissions.