Bacterial Cellulose Based Hydrogel Film for Sustainable Food Packaging

Abstract

Sustainable packaging has given vital importance for food protection, food safety, food property maintenance, regulatory compliance, and cost-effectiveness, with the aim of supporting long-term human and ecological health. On the other hand, hydrogel-based food package exhibited numerous advantages to protect fresh fruits and vegetables and continued to enhance their shelf life at ambient temperature. Hence, an effort has been given to discuss the development of bacterial cellulose (BCs)-based polysaccharide-polyol complex biomaterial for sustainable food packaging materials. A novel polymeric hydrogel film is prepared by modifying the existing polyvinylpyrrolidone—sodium carboxymethylcellulose (PVP-CMC) hydrogel film with the addition of BCs, which is designated as ‘PVP-CMC-BCs’. This book chapter mainly describes the use and efficacy of BCs-based hydrogel film for improved shelf life of soft and delicate fruits and vegetables. The efficacy of ‘PVP-CMC-BCs’ hydrogel film is evaluated on the basis of the ‘shelf life’ of table grapes, spinach, tomatoes, etc., as a confirmation test. It is evident from the results that ‘PVP-CMC-BCs’ hydrogel film can keep mostly all kinds of delicate fresh fruits and vegetables for 30 days without any physiological degradation in appearance. Thus, ‘PVP-CMC-BCs’ hydrogel film can be considered as an alternative to the conventional plastic packaging. Moreover, the present study introduces a new generation of bioplastic hydrogel film for sustainable food packaging for elusive agro-bio products.