Biopolymer-Based Nanomaterials for Postharvest Treatments: A Review

Food manufacturers are faced with the consumers’ demand for safe treatment of food and agricultural products. Natural polymers with renewable resources are safe and are reliable alternatives to synthetic polymers to treat/protect food and agricultural harvested products. Biopolymer-based nanomaterials with their characteristics (very small sizes, large surface area), and enhanced properties, have additional advantages in comparison with bulk biopolymer-based materials to employ in agriculture and food sectors. This chapter provides a review of biopolymer-based nanomaterials/nanoparticles used to protect postharvest products. The following major conclusions were made using reported results and data in the literature: (1) In the twenty-first century, nanotechnology plays a significant role in agricultural practices, providing new information about pre- and postharvest technologies regarding storage of agricultural products with lower amounts of losses and longer periods of storage in comparison with using conventional technologies; (2) nanotechnology contributes to the fabrication of nanomaterials (NMs) and nanoparticles (NPs) with superior water vapor barrier (WVB), O2B (oxygen barrier), and mechanical properties for food coatings and packaging applications; (3) biopolymer-based NMs/NPs protect foodstuffs from microbial and oxidative deteriorations; (4) use of NMs instead of conventional materials (crop fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides) such as chitosan NPs improves crop quality; and (5) among biopolymers, chitosan is unique due to its cationic nature and antimicrobial properties.