9 - Nanostructurated materials for prolonged and safe food preservation

Abstract

Even though many food preservation methods have been developed over time, most of the current approaches impact the quality of foods and/or change the regular form and aspect. Recent studies on the field of food engineering and processing are focused on the development of alternative methods able to assure a prolonged and safe preservation in order to overcome the current inconvenience related with poor quality food. Food nanotechnology represents an emerging field that aims to revolutionize the global food system, with wide applications in food engineering, food nanosensing, development of nanostructured ingredients, food quality control, safety evaluation, food processing, and food packaging and preservation. This chapter reveals the main properties, advantages, and disadvantages of current preservation methods and highlights the potential implications of nanostructured materials and nanotechnology in the design of alternative preservation and packaging methods, to assure safe food storage and consumption. Moreover, recent advances regarding the development of smart materials and nanostructured preservatives for agri-food sector are also discussed.