Abstract
In both public and private sectors, one can notice a strong interest in the topic of sustainable food and packaging. For a long time, the spotlight for optimization was placed on well-known examples of high environmental impacts, whether regarding indirect resource use (e.g., meat, dairy) or problems in waste management. Staple and hedonistic foods such as cereals and confectionary have gained less attention. However, these products and their packaging solutions are likewise of worldwide ecologic and economic relevance, accounting for high resource input, production amounts, as well as food losses and waste. This review provides a profound elaboration of the status quo in cereal and confectionary packaging, essential for practitioners to improve sustainability in the sector. Here, we present packaging functions and properties along with related product characteristics and decay mechanisms in the subcategories of cereals and cereal products, confectionary and bakery wares alongside ready-to-eat savories and snacks. Moreover, we offer an overview to formerly and recently used packaging concepts as well as established and modern shelf-life extending technologies, expanding upon our knowledge to thoroughly understand the packaging’s purpose; we conclude that a comparison of the environmental burden share between product and packaging is necessary to properly derive the need for action(s), such as packaging redesign.
Highlights
In order to facilitate the transition towards a sustainable future, severalnational goals, commitments, and legal bases have already been initiated or applied. These include, for instance, the Paris Agreement on climate change and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on a global scale, the European Green Deal including the New Circular Economy Action Plan, as well as the Farm to Fork Strategy on European level and numerous implementations into national law systems [1–6]. It is well-agreed in the scientific community and beyond, that a great share of negative environmental impacts such as global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions or waste originate from food systems [7–9]
The present review aims at building a comprehensive basis for future sustainable packaging development activities in the area of cereal and confectionary products by:
Cereal and confectionary were found to be underrepresented in recent publications addressing this topic, despite their global economic and ecologic importance
Summary
Global awareness about environmental, social and economic sustainability challenges, as well as the need for immediate action to limit their negative short- and long-term impacts, has risen considerably. These include, for instance, the Paris Agreement on climate change and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on a global scale, the European Green Deal including the New Circular Economy Action Plan, as well as the Farm to Fork Strategy on European level and numerous implementations into national law systems [1–6] Regarding food, it is well-agreed in the scientific community and beyond, that a great share of negative environmental impacts such as global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions or waste originate from food systems [7–9]. By gaining profound knowledge of the food product itself, together with the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect quality along the food supply chain, further packaging requirements can be defined and considered in the innovation process [12,13,17] Due to their high environmental impact, the focus of research and development activities is often on (animal protein-rich) foods such as meat or milk [18–20]. It may result in a short-term success (weak product and effective packaging), a situation where the potential is not achieved (strong product and ineffective packaging), or even failure (weak product and ineffective packaging) [31]
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