2 - Types, production and assessment of biobased food packaging materials

Abstract

Publisher Summary Food packaging was created to facilitate trade and transportation of commodities over long distances. These commodities include both perishable as well as non-perishable foods. The packaging industry has transformed into a highly sophisticated and intelligent service industry, particularly for perishable foods. Extrusion, baking, thermoforming, casting, blow molding, injection molding, lamination, calendaring, and coating are some of the major plastic processing methods that are currently utilized by the plastic industry in producing food packaging. Biochemical and engineering tools are being used to improve and optimize the properties of biopolymers. Approaches include: chemical cross-linking, chemical grafting, chemical substitutions/derivatizations, biocatalysis, plasticization, novel processing, blending and compatibilization with other polymers and additives. Research efforts on the use of starch-, Polylactic acid (PLA) and PHBV-based blends and hybrid composites for food packaging applications will be reviewed in the subsequent sections along with the future outlook for these materials. Life cycle assessment (LCA) documents the environmental profile over the life of the product, also known as ‘cradle to grave' analyses of the environmental impact or the product's ‘environmental footprint'. This information helps to evaluate the product's overall sustainability and the entire environmental economy.