Cassava toxicity, detoxification and its food applications: a review

ABSTRACTPackaging reduction, particularly in terms of single‐use plastic (SUP) packaging waste, as well as restrictions on specific packaging formats and regulatory requirements, are driving the demand for sustainable packaging solutions. Notably, within the category of SUP products, packaging accounts for the highest share at 40%. Therefore, advanced bio‐based food packaging technologies are essential for extending the lifespan of perishable food products, while maintaining their nutritional value and ensuring food safety and security. This review provides a comprehensive overview of published articles, highlighting the innovations in edible packaging films, coatings, and antimicrobial agents for applications in the food industry, intending to help scientists, companies, and consumers make informed decisions. The advantages and challenges with polysaccharide, protein, and lipid‐based edible packaging materials are discussed. A detailed description of various food‐safe antimicrobial agents, along with their antimicrobial mechanisms, incorporation techniques, and regulations, is provided. By leveraging natural bioactive compounds, antimicrobial edible packaging provides significant advantages over chemical‐based antimicrobial agents. Additionally, encapsulation techniques help control release and enhance the stability and effectiveness of antimicrobial agents, thereby prolonging the shelf life of perishable food products. On the basis of recent advancements, rapid growth in antimicrobial edible food packaging can be anticipated. Further, the review focuses on the importance of safety and regulatory aspects related to nanoparticle (NP) migration and appropriate labeling on antimicrobial edible packaging along with key challenges highlighting cost, consumer acceptance, and large‐scale production. Finally, it highlights the potential of utilizing food‐grade antimicrobial agents with edible polymers for the sustainable preservation of perishable food products.

Edible packaging revolution: Enhanced functionality with natural collagen aggregates

The unique properties and advantages of edible films over conventional food packaging have led the way to their extensive exploration in recent years. Moreover, the incorporation of bioactive components during their production has further enhanced the intrinsic features of packaging materials. This study was aimed to develop edible and bioactive food packaging films comprising yeast incorporated into bacterial cellulose (BC) in conjunction with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and glycerol (Gly) to extend the shelf life of packaged food materials. First, yeast biomass and BC hydrogels were produced by Meyerozyma guilliermondii (MT502203.1) and Gluconacetobacter xylinus (ATCC53582), respectively, and then the films were developed ex situ by mixing 30 wt.% CMC, 30 wt.% Gly, 2 wt.% yeast dry biomass, and 2 wt.% BC slurry. FE-SEM observation showed the successful incorporation of Gly and yeast into the fibrous cellulose matrix. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the development of composite films through chemical interaction between BC, CMC, Gly, and yeast. The developed BC/CMC/Gly/yeast composite films showed high water solubility (42.86%). The yeast-incorporated films showed antimicrobial activities against three microbial strains, including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Saccharomyces aureus, by producing clear inhibition zones of 16 mm, 10 mm, and 15 mm, respectively, after 24 h. Moreover, the films were non-toxic against NIH-3T3 fibroblast cells. Finally, the coating of oranges and tomatoes with BC/CMC/Gly/yeast composites enhanced the shelf life at different storage temperatures. The BC/CMC/Gly/yeast composite film-coated oranges and tomatoes demonstrated acceptable sensory features such as odor and color, not only at 6 °C but also at room temperature and further elevated temperatures at 30 °C and 40 °C for up to two weeks. The findings of this study indicate that the developed BC/CMC/Gly/yeast composite films could be used as edible packaging material with high nutritional value and distinctive properties related to the film component, which would provide protection to foods and extend their shelf life, and thus could find applications in the food industry.

Active edible packaging based on milk proteins: A route to carry and deliver nutraceuticals

The current chapter addresses the use of cellulose-based nanostructured materials obtained from several renewable resources (plant fibers, wood, microbes, etc.) for edible food packaging-based emerging techniques. The nanocelluloses having characteristic attributes such as renewability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, tunable surface chemistry, nanodimensions, low cost, and others make it a remarkable candidate to be used in developing edible food packaging. In this regard, the present chapter provides an insight into the use of several cellulose nanoform fabrication methods to obtain tailor-made properties for targeted edible food packaging. It is noteworthy to mention that the addition of nanocellulose for developing biocomposite-based edible food packaging can help to improve the packaging properties such as barrier property, mechanical property, thermal property, optical property, and other physicochemical properties providing an ability in delivering tunable attributes. In this section, the preparation and characterization of various cellulose-based nanostructured materials are discussed with suitability of their applications as a potential candidate in edible food packaging. The approaches utilized to modify the surface of nanocellulose for obtaining better dispersion in the fabrication of polymer composites with required properties are also briefly discussed. Additionally, cellulose nanomaterials are commonly applied in the development of both edible and non-edible food packaging materials for their remarkable properties which can further be modified by varying the forms of nanomaterials such as nanocrystals, nanofibers, and nanowhiskers. The chapter also details various case studies of developing biocomposites using nanocelluloses for design and development of edible packaging materials for perishable food products. The development of edible coating on food products utilizing nanocellulose-based materials is further addressed elaborately.

A comparative study of some properties of cassava ( Manihot esculenta, Crantz) and cocoyam ( Colocasia esculenta, Linn) starches

Research groups and the food and pharmaceutical industries recognize edible packaging as a useful alternative or addition to conventional packaging to reduce waste and to create novel applications for improving product stability, quality, safety, variety, and convenience for consumers. Recent studies have explored the ability of biopolymer-based food packaging materials to carry and control-release active compounds. As diverse edible packaging materials derived from various by-products or waste from food industry are being developed, the dry thermoplastic process is advancing rapidly as a feasible commercial edible packaging manufacturing process. The employment of nanocomposite concepts to edible packaging materials promises to improve barrier and mechanical properties and facilitate effective incorporation of bioactive ingredients and other designed functions. In addition to the need for a more fundamental understanding to enable design to desired specifications, edible packaging has to overcome challenges such as regulatory requirements, consumer acceptance, and scaling-up research concepts to commercial applications.

Packaging is one of the most relevant areas in food industry, where a great investment from the scientific community and industry has been applied. The search for safe materials and healthier compounds that present simultaneous biodegradability and edibility have been main goals of research on packaging and of the packaging industry itself. Recent studies lead to believe that the future generation of packaging materials will be derived from renewable and biodegradable sources. Edible coatings and edible films, made from edible materials (such as polysaccharides, proteins and lipids) are a good example of such packaging materials. They can be used to provide additional protection for food, being a fully biodegradable and environmental friendly packaging system and can be combined with antimicrobial, antifungal and antioxidant substances. They have been extensively applied in fruits and vegetables, however hardly explored in dairy products. Nevertheless, in the last years an increasing attention was given to the utilization of edible packaging on cheese preservation, being a potentially improved means of controlling ripening, quality, safety and at the same time providing nutritional value. This chapter provides a review of the last developments concerning the application of edible packaging to cheese preservation.

Food ingredients in general are very sensitive and easily experience quality degradation due to environmental, chemical, biochemical, microbiological, oxygen, water, light and temperature factors. To prevent this damage, the food product is packaged with plastic packaging material. Until now, plastic polymers are the most widely used packaging materials. In Indonesia, the use of plastic packaging materials by the food industry and other food business actors as food packaging has occupied a portion of 80% and 55%. This will of course result in danger to the environment. Packaging with edible coating/film is a relatively new food preservation technique. Research on coating food products with edible coating/film has been widely carried out and has been proven to extend the shelf life and improve the quality of food products. The safest, most potential and most widely researched polymer material for edible coating/film is a renewable organic material based on starch. Starch is a type of polysaccharide from plants that is abundantly available in nature, is biodegradable, easy to obtain and cheap. Edible packaging made from organic materials has the opportunity to be developed to meet the needs of safe packaging for consumers and support sustainable agriculture and realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's), considering that there is an abundance of edible packaging materials in Indonesia that have not been utilized optimally. The application of environmentally friendly edible packaging is expected to provide very significant benefits in the development of food technology, namely aspects of maintaining quality, both in terms of nutritional value and food safety, extending product shelf life and being able to increase the added value of the materials that make up edible packaging.

Excessive use of single-use plastic packaging presents an imminent threat to the environment. One of the emerging solutions is using edible food packaging. However, there is lack of consumer information toward edible packaging. This study evaluated consumer attitude, acceptability, and purchase intent of three types of edible food packaging: muffin liner, cranberry pomace fruit leather wrap, and powdered drink sachet. One hundred consumers who frequently consumed muffins, strawberry fruit leather, and powdered lemonade were selected from metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon to participate in the study. The panelists were presented with the edible films and the food products with the edible packaging, information card highlighting the environmental-friendly edible package, and were prompted with describing the sensory attributes, purchase intent, and qualities regarding the edible packaging with and without food. Overall, panelists liked the three foods with the edible packaging giving overall liking scores of 7.48, 8.06, and 7.48 for the muffin liners, edible fruit leather wraps, and powdered drink sachets, respectively, based on a 9-point hedonic scale where 1=dislike extremely and 9=like extremely. When asked about hypothetical purchase intent, 64%-68% of panelists positively reacted to purchase intent and would buy all three types of edible packaging products. Based on the positive reaction from panelists, edible packaging maybe a possible solution to reducing single-use plastic packaging in the food industry. This study can be the catalyst for further investigation of the efficacy of different applications of edible food packaging as well as consumer perceptions of eating their packaging. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Edible food packaging is an emerging solution for reducing single-use plastic waste. This study investigated consumer attitude, acceptability, and purchase intent of edible food packaging for three food packaging applications, including edible muffin liner, fruit leather wrap, and powdered drink sachet. This study demonstrated that consumers strongly agree that edible packaging would serve as an environmentally sustainable solution to single-use plastics, and are willing to spend more to purchase these sustainable alternatives. This study provides new information toward the future development of edible packaging and consumer perceptions of eating their packaging.

This study demonstrated the feasibility of comprehensive enzymatic conversion of starch for non-waste applications in food industry. Enzymatic conversion of starch gives rise to nano-sized particles that can be used for manufacturing biodegradable and edible packaging materials and glucose syrup for replacing sugar in confectionery formulations. The 96 h enzymatic hydrolysis yielded starch nanoparticles smaller than 100 nm. Films based on nano-sized starch particles have promising physicochemical properties for manufacturing biodegradable and edible packaging materials. Such properties as reduced moisture content, increased homogeneity, crystallinity, and high initial thermal stability improve the mechanical and performance characteristics of the final food packaging materials. During film formation from starch subjected to preliminary mechanical amorphization, the polymer chain is recrystallized. The C-type crystal structure of starch is converted to the B-type structure. The supernatant obtained by starch hydrolysis can be used for producing glucose syrup. The resulting glucose syrup can be used as a sugar substitute in production of confectionery products. No objective technological differences in properties of glucose syrup obtained by comprehensive conversion of starch and the commercially available glucose syrup derived from sucrose were revealed.

Chapter Fifteen - Modeling mass transfer in biodegradable and edible packaging

Development and evaluation of edible films based on cassava starch, whey protein, and bees wax

The food and pharmaceutical industries recognized edible packaging as a useful alternative or addition to conventional packaging to reduce waste and to create novel applications for improving product stability, quality, safety, variety and convenience for consumers. This study was done to compare the different types of edible packaging materials, their classifications and their applications. The aim of this study was to better understand the potential of fruits and vegetables to be used as components of edible packaging materials is discussed. Such application of fruits and vegetables is possible to the presence of matrix-forming polysaccharides and proteins in their composition. The development of edible fruit and vegetable packaging materials is a promising way of combining the barrier and mechanical properties of biopolymers with the nutritional and sensory properties. The application of fruits and vegetables as a component of edible packaging materials enables the utilization of raw materials with low commercial value. Edible packaging materials are a new method of their utilizing. There is also the possibility of just decreasing the amount of synthetic packaging waste by application of fruit and vegetable packaging materials simply as a passive or active layer partially replacing the non‐renewable materials. The dynamic forces behind the keen chase includes scientific innovation in the functionality of new materials, increased demand for novel foods and increased consciousness for environmental protection and conservation. In this study we’ll know about the different characteristics of edible packaging materials like light weight, low cost with significant strength, good oil and chemical resistance, moderation of elongation, good tensile strength, and act as good oxygen barriers, retard moisture loss, flexible and generally have no taste or flavor. Materials that have traditionally been used in food packaging include glass, metals (aluminum, foils and laminates, tinplate, and tin-free steel), paper and paperboards, and plastics. Moreover, a wider variety of plastics have been introduced in both rigid and flexible forms

Nowadays, oleogels have gained attentions as promising fat substitutes. Lipid-based compounds, mono- and diacylglycerols, fatty acids (FAs), fatty alcohols, waxes, sterols, ceramides, and phospholipids exhibit excellent oil-gelling potential due to their structural similarity to triacylglycerols. This review addresses how oleogels composition affects their nutritional functionality and further applications in food industry. The properties of oleogels structured by lipid-based compounds depend on structurant (concentration, type, ratio), solvent oil (type, FA profile, minor polar components), and processing conditions (cooling rate, shear force). Synergistic effects between FAs and fatty alcohols have been confirmed, and a thermodynamics-based screening model has been developed to assist identification of potential oil-structuring combinations, though further validation is needed. Oleogel offers health benefits contributed by its structure, oleogelator, and solvent oil type, including replacing harmful fats, delaying lipid release, inhibiting lipid-lipase interactions, and delivering bioactives, but long-term safety studies, especially for FAs and fatty alcohols, are required. Thus, modulating gel processing conditions and the composition of structurants and solvent oils can tailor the properties of oleogels, enhancing their nutritional function and broadening potential applications in food industry with desired product quality. Oleogels have been successfully applied in bakery, dairy, meats, spreads, margarine, confectionary, frying medium, and delivery systems, with complete fat substitution strategies developed for cheese, meat, spreads, and margarines. Further research could explore their nutritional roles and applications in functional foods, particularly considering the regulatory limitations and the influence of long-term consumption on human metabolisms.