Bio-Based Additives for Food Packaging

A significant amount of food is lost due to changes caused by various environmental factors, including microbial attacks, moisture, oxidation, and irradiation. Protecting food from these threats is essential by developing methods such as packaging to enhance its quality, stability, and shelf life. Conventional packaging materials derived from petroleum have led to serious adverse effects on the quality, taste, and shelf life of food, and the disposal of such materials poses significant environmental concerns. Consequently, bio-based packaging materials have garnered attention, as they are derived from agricultural sources, encompassing renewable biological materials like starch, polysaccharides, lipids, proteins, and bio-diversified monomers. The focus on bio-based packaging materials stems from their biodegradability in the environment, which enhances the shelf life and food quality. This chapter emphasizes the necessity for food packaging materials, explores the properties of these materials, and discusses the potential of bio-based additives such as cellulose, starch, pectin, chitosan, and alginate. The discussion considers their occurrence, biological properties, morphological and physiological features and recent trials on bio-based packaging materials for food packaging. Furthermore, the chapter delves into ongoing efforts to enhance their performance, understand their functioning mechanisms, address challenges in developing food packaging materials and assess their sustainability.