Condensed Tannins, a Viable Solution To Meet the Need for Sustainable and Effective Multifunctionality in Food Packaging: Structure, Sources, and Properties

Lucia Panzella,Alessandra Napolitano

doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.1c07229

Lucia Panzella, Alessandra Napolitano

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.1c07229

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Abstract

Condensed tannins (CT) have been the focus of increasing interest in the last years as a result of their potent biological properties, which have prompted their use in the food and feed sector as functional ingredients. The possible exploitation of these compounds as multifunctional additives for the implementation of active food packaging has also been recently appreciated. In this perspective, an overview of the structural features, accessible sources, methods of analysis, and functional properties of CT is provided, with the aim of critically emphasizing the opportunities offered by this widespread class of natural phenolic compounds for the rational design of multifunctional and sustainable food packaging materials.

Highlights

The interest toward natural phenolic compounds has tremendously increased within the scientific community, expanding beyond their established healthpromoting effects and encompassing other functional properties that have prompted their application as additives for the implementation of biomaterials, cosmetics, or products designed for the food industry.[1−3] In this latter context, growing importance has been gained by food packaging incorporating phenolic compounds as active components able to prolong the shelf life of food and/or as stabilizers of the packaging material itself against, e.g., thermal and photo-induced degradation.[4,5]
This applies in particular to phenolic polymers, above all tannins and lignin, which are highly attractive compared to lowmolecular-weight compounds in terms of stability, ease of processing, and toxicity.[6]
Starting from this premise, this perspective is focused on the still not fully exploited opportunities offered by a particular class of phenolic polymers, that is condensed tannins (CT), for the implementation of multifunctional and sustainable food packaging

Summary

■ INTRODUCTION

The interest toward natural phenolic compounds has tremendously increased within the scientific community, expanding beyond their established healthpromoting effects and encompassing other functional properties that have prompted their application as additives for the implementation of biomaterials, cosmetics, or products designed for the food industry.[1−3] In this latter context, growing importance has been gained by food packaging incorporating phenolic compounds as active components able to prolong the shelf life of food and/or as stabilizers of the packaging material itself against, e.g., thermal and photo-induced degradation.[4,5] This applies in particular to phenolic polymers, above all tannins and lignin, which are highly attractive compared to lowmolecular-weight compounds in terms of stability, ease of processing, and toxicity.[6]. 4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane (Cl-TMDP), followed by 31P NMR and 1H and 13C 2D NMR analyses, as recently reported (Figure 2B).[10,24,25]

Other methodologies allowing for direct analysis of CT

Findings

■ REFERENCES